Alexys Allen August 1, 2014 Part Three: Court Cases

1. Marbury v. Madison(1803): Designated as a justice of the peace in the District of Columbia the last minute appointment were never fully finalized
Precedent: when the constitution conflicts with an act of the legislature that act is invalidated established the supreme courts power of judicial law
2. McCulloch v. Maryland(1819): The state of Maryland passed legislation to impose lanes on the bank, McCulloch the cashier, of Baltimore branch of the bank refused to pay the tax
Precedent: the constitution controls laws of the respective states and cannot be controlled by them
3. Gibbons v. Ogden(1824): gibbons did business between New York and New Jersey and challenged the monopoly license granted by NY to Aaron Odgen in paying fees for navigation privileges
Precedent: regulation of navigation by steamboat operators to conduct interstate commerce was a power reserved to and exercise3d by the congress
4. Barron v. Baltimore(1833): large amounts of sand accumulated in the harbor depriving Barron of the deep waters ,he sued the city to recover a portion of his financial losses
Precedent: the supreme court had no jurisdiction in this case since the 5th Amendment was not applicable to the states
5. Dred Scott v. Stanford(1857): Dred Scott was a slave, then removed in Illinois in an area owned by Louisiana where slavery was forbidden. His master maintained that no pure blooded negro of African descent of slaves could be a citizen in Article III of the constitution
Precedent: under articles 3 and 4 no one but a citizen of the state and only congress could confer national citizenship held the Missouri compromise unconstitutional hoping to end slavery questions for good
6. United Sates v. Nixon (1974): Nixon and his closest aides sought audio tapes of conversations in the oval office and was convicted and arrested. In his defense he stated he was immune and had “executive privilege”
Precedent: the court claimed there was a limited executive privilege in areas of military and diplomatic affairs the president must obey the subpoena and produce the tapes and documents. Nixon resigned shortly after the release of the tapes
7. Clinton v. New York City(1998): Snake river farmers challenged a provision to permit some food refiners and processors to defer recognition of their capital gains after a cancellation of the federal government’s ability to recoup nearly 2.6 billion in taxes
Precedent: legislation that passes both houses of congress must be approved or rejected by the president
8. Baker v. Carr(1962): baker alleged a law designed to apportion the seats for the states general assembly was ignored, he detailed how Tennessee’s reappointment efforts ignored significant economic growth and population shifts
Precedent: the 14th Amendment equal protection issues which baker and others raised in this case merited judicial evaluation
9. Wesberry v. Sanders(1963): wesberry filed a suit against the states apportionment scheme claiming the system diluted his right to vote compared to other Georgia residents
Precedent: the scheme grossly discriminated against votes in the 5th congressional district a single congressman had to represent 2 to 3 times as many people represented by congressmen in other districts
10. Buckley v. Valeo(1976): congress attempted to ferret out corruption in political campaigns by restricting financial contributions to candidates
Precedent: the court found that thee limitation on total campaign expenditures did violate the 1st Amendment restricting them did not serve a government interest to warrant a curtailment
11. McConnell v. FEC(2003): a panel struck down portions of the campaign finance reforms acts ban on soft-money donations but upheld some of the restrictions on the kind of advertisements parties engage in
Precedent: the law only effected state elections in which federal candidates wer e involved didn’t prevent states from