Fred Korematsu was a U.S.-born Japanese-American who deliberately decided to stay in California and not be moved to an internment camp, as all Japanese-Americans were forced to do under a 1942 executive order. The Supreme Court ruled the executive order was constitutional, and the government's need to protect against possible espionage overruled Korematsu's individual rights. Although the U.S. government has subsequently apologized for the internment and paid reparations to those interned, this case has never been overturned. Some critics think it has even provided legal justification for the ... Read More

Ruled that the Florida recounts in the presidential election violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, that the Florida Supreme Court had misinterpreted Florida election law and that there was not enough time left to set up alternative methods to resolve the disputed election under Florida law. The upshot? The Supreme Court — and not necessarily the voters or even the House of Representatives — decided the 2000 presidential election. Perhaps it even started a trend (see Franken, Al) or broke a bad one (see Tilden, Samuel J.). Ultimately, perhaps your interpretation of ... Read More

A complicated tax case stemming from a California law that stated railroads could not deduct the value of their mortgages from the taxable value of their property, a right that was given to individuals. The Southern Pacific Railroad refused to pay the tax revenues involved, several California counties sued, and the case eventually wound its way to the Supreme Court. Although the court did not specifically rule on corporate personhood, a court clerk, who wrote a summary of the case for the legal community, stated that the ruling in favor of the railroad meant that the 14th Amendment — which ... Read More

Dred Scott was a slave born in Virginia who claimed he should have been emancipated when his owner had taken him to live in the free state of Illinois and the free territory of Wisconsin (now Minnesota). The court ruled that people of African descent held as slaves, and their descendants, whether they were free or slave, could never be U.S. citizens. The court also ruled that Congress had no right to prohibit slavery in the territories, and that slaves, not being citizens, could not sue in court. The worst decision in Supreme Court history? Most likely. ... Read More

Homer Plessy was a Louisiana black man who boarded a "whites only" railroad car. He was arrested and sued under the equal rights provisions of the 13th and 14th amendments. Ferguson was the Louisiana judge who ruled that the state had the right to regulate railroad companies in any way it saw fit. The Supremes, once again exhibiting their sense of racial tolerance and fairness, ruled that the law did not suggest black inferiority, and that the separation of the races in public facilities was hunky-dory, as long as those facilities were equal. This "separate but equal" ruling stood until it was ... Read More