The
Founding Fathers established a system of
checks and balances to insure that one branch of government did not become more powerful than the other two branches. The
U.S. Constitution gives the Judicial Branch the role of interpreting the laws. In 1803, the power of the Judicial Branch was more clearly defined with the landmark supreme court case
Marbury v. Madison. This court case and the others listed have had a significant impact on the United States of America.
Marbury v. Madison was a historic case that established the precedent of
judicial review. The ruling cemented the authority of the Judicial Branch to declare a law unconstitutional and firmly established the checks and balances the founding fathers had intended.
In McCulloch v. Maryland, the Supreme Court allowed for implied powers of the federal government according to the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution. This case allowed the powers of the federal government to expand and evolve beyond that specifically written in the Constitution.
Gibbons v. Ogden established the supremacy of the federal government over state's rights. The case gave the federal government the power to regulate interstate commerce.
Scott v. Stanford had major implications about the condition of slavery. The court case struck down the Missouri Compromise and the
Kansas-Nebraska Act and ruled that just because a slave was living in a "free" state, they were still slaves. The ruling increased tensions between the North and South in the build up to the Civil War.
Plessy v. Ferguson was a Supreme Court decision that upheld the separate but equal doctrine. This ruling interpreted the thirteenth amendment to mean that separate facilities were allowed for different races. This case was a cornerstone of segregation in the South.
Brown v. Board of Education overturned the separate but equal doctrine which had been given legal standing with Plessy v. Ferguson. This landmark case was a significant step in the
Civil Rights movement. In fact,
President Eisenhower sent federal troops to force desegregation of a school in Little Rock, Arkansas based on this decision.
Korematsu v. United States upheld the conviction of Frank Korematsu for defying an order to be
interned with other Japanese-Americans during
World War II. This ruling placed the security of the United States over individual rights and again has entered the political landscape with the detention of suspected terrorists at the Guantanamo Bay prison under President
George W. Bush.
