Supreme Court rulings that shaped American life

The court rulings have shaped the legal framework of the United States and countless aspects of American society. In the following material, let us take a look at issues that have had a major impact on American life, including the landmark decision on the right to abortion in the Roe v. Wade case, as well as the recent Supreme Court ruling that knocked him down.

In 1898 the United States case against Wong Kim set the precedent that anyone born in the United States is a U.S. citizen regardless of parental citizenship.

By a 6-on-2 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that Wong Kim Ark, who was born in San Francisco to Chinese parents, had citizenship because he was born within the United States. The Court referred to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States are subject to the jurisdiction in question, and are nationals of the United States.”

On the issue Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in schools was unconstitutional. The 9-0 decision overturned an earlier 1896 court ruling in the Plessy v. Ferguson case, which allowed education on a “separate but equal” basis.

In the new ruling, the court ruled that “segregated educational facilities are essentially unequal”, and ruled that segregation in schools violates the provision for equal protection in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. This decision enabled the federal government to order the abolition of the practice of racial segregation in schools and aided the civil rights movement in the country.

ISSUE Engel vs. Vitale of 1962 set the precedent that public schools could not organize religious prayers for students. The court ruled 6 to 1 that the New York school system was operating unconstitutionally starting each day with a prayer mentioning God.

Although the prayer was voluntary, the court ruled that it was not appropriate for the government to embrace a particular belief system. The ruling says the government’s actions violated the First Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion and prohibits the government from “establishing” a particular religion.

Decision on the newspaper issue New York Times v. United States in 1971, often referred to as the “Pentagon Documents” issue, expanded press freedom. The decision allowed The New York Times and The Washington Post to publish the Pentagon Documents, a US government report on involvement in the Vietnam War. The court ruled 6 to 3 that the newspapers had the right, under the First Amendment, to publish classified documents, and held that the government had failed to prove that their publication would cause harm to the United States.

In the matter Roe vs. Wade in 1973, the Supreme Court ruling gave women across the United States the right to have an abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy.

However, the court allowed states to impose some restrictions on abortion in the later stages of pregnancy, to protect the life of the mother and fetus. This decision has been at the epicenter of the abortion debate in the United States since it was made nearly 50 years ago.

In the decision on the matter Texas vs. Johnson in 1989, the Supreme Court ruled that even very offensive habits, such as burning an American flag, are protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution.

The court ruled 5 to 4 that Gregory Johnson, who was arrested for burning an American flag outside the Dallas City Hall, had been exercising his right to free expression.

In the decision on the matter District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that U.S. citizens not related to military service also have the right to bear firearms.

In a 5 by 4 decision, the court referred to the Second Amendment – the right to bear arms – overturning a District of Columbia ruling restricting the use of belt weapons in the capital.

The court rejected the argument that the drafters of the Constitution included the term “militia” in the Second Amendment to limit the possession of weapons only to persons serving in the army. The Court held that during the period when the Constitution was drafted, this term referred to all men capable of carrying weapons.

With the decision on the matter Obergefell vs. Hodges in 2015, the Supreme Court granted same-sex couples the right to marry nationwide.

The court ruled 5 to 4 that the fair trial clause in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right of people to marriage, while the equal protection clause ensures that this right is administered “with equal force to couples. of the same sex ”.

The court ruled that banning same-sex marriage – then in force in more than 12 states – was unconstitutional, legalizing marriage in all 50 states.

With the decision on the matter Dobbs v. Jackson Organization for Women’s Health in 2022, the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 decision in the Roe v. Wade case, thus eliminating the constitutional right to abortion, and leaving it up to individual states to decide the case.

The court did not overturn a Mississippi state law banning abortion after the first 15 weeks of pregnancy, much earlier than the precedent set in the Roe v. Wade case.

In a 5 by 4 decision, most judges ruled that no right to abortion was “indirectly protected by any constitutional provision.”

The court also dismissed arguments that the decision on the Roe case should have been upheld because it had already set a precedent of almost 50 years.

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