Top 10 Most Controversial Supreme Court Decisions
#10: Marbury v. Madison (1803)
This case about an undelivered notice ended up having momentous consequences. Before leaving office, President John Adams appointed like-minded Federalists to judicial positions to hamper incoming President Thomas Jefferson. So Jefferson told his Secretary of State, James Madison, not to deliver the remaining commissions. After one William Marbury filed a lawsuit demanding his notice, Chief Justice John Marshall took the opportunity to argue that Congress had been wrong to give the Supreme Court jurisdiction over such cases, as it wasn’t outlined in the Constitution. In doing so, he established not only that the Constitution is actual law, but also the principle of judicial review - allowing courts to strike down laws deemed unconstitutional. The validity of how Marshall got there is debated by legal scholars to this day.
#9: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)
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Depending on who you ask, this ruling was a win for free speech … OR for wealthy special interest groups. The plaintiff was conservative non-profit organization “Citizens United”, who wanted to air a film critical of Hillary Clinton right before the 2008 Democratic primary elections. The Supreme Court’s ruling struck down restrictions on corporate spending for political campaigns. The decision was split 5-4, with dissenting Justice John Paul Stevens arguing that it flew against a common sense need to “prevent corporations from undermining self government”. Republican Senator Mitch McConnell praised the decision as restoring First Amendment rights, while President Barack Obama asserted that it “[opened] the floodgates for an unlimited amount of special interest money into our democracy.”
#8: Lochner v. New York (1905)
This ruling was for workers’ own good! Or at least, that was the supposed idea behind the Supreme Court’s decision that states couldn’t set maximum work hours for businesses. In 1899, bakery owner Joseph Lochner was charged for breaking a New York law that limited work hours for bakers to 10 hours a day or 60 hours a week. In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court decreed that this law interfered with “the right and liberty of the individual to contract”! For the next few decades, during what is now known as the “Lochner era”, the Supreme Court invalidated numerous statutes that regulated working conditions. This included another controversial case in 1918, Hammer v. Dagenhart, in which the court struck down a federal law regulating child labor.
#7: District of Columbia v. Heller (2008)
About two-thirds of Americans support stricter gun-control laws. However, it remains an extremely heated issue, with much debate centering on how to interpret the Second Amendment. Does it grant the right to bear arms to private individuals, or just state militias? In 2008, the Supreme Court affirmed 5-4 that individuals have a right to own guns, striking down a handgun ban and safety rules in the District of Columbia. This was followed up by a ruling in 2010 that the right is enforceable against the states, and in 2022 that the possession of pistols in public is a constitutional right. Needless to say, these decisions have been fiercely debated by advocates for and against gun control.
#6: Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
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Thanks to police procedurals and legal dramas, pretty much everyone is familiar with the Miranda warning. However, it was seen as quite radical when it was established in 1966. It’s named after Ernesto Miranda, who was convicted of kidnapping and rape based on a confession during interrogation. Miranda’s lawyer argued that this confession wasn’t voluntary, as Miranda hadn’t been informed of his rights. The Supreme Court ruled in his favor, based on the Fifth Amendment’s self-incrimination clause. The larger idea was to address coercive interrogation tactics. However, in 2022’s Vega v. Tekoh, the Court ruled 6-3 that police can’t be sued for failing to administer the Miranda warning - contending that the warning is a requirement for evidence in trials, not a substantive constitutional right.
#5: Bush v. Gore (2000)
The 2000 United States presidential election was neck and neck. And it all came down to Florida. Republican candidate George W. Bush inched ahead of Democratic nominee Al Gore, but by so few votes it triggered a machine recount. This reduced Bush’s margin of victory. According to a media review, Republican officials in 16 counties didn’t actually do any recounts, but Gore demanded manual recounts in just four counties. Ultimately, the Supreme Court decided 5-4 to halt the recount, arguing that different counties had different counting standards, and that a uniform standard couldn’t be established before a “safe harbor” deadline. Justice Antonin Scalia claimed the recount posed "irreparable harm" to Bush. Would Gore have won? Probably not with those four counties. With a statewide recount of rejected ballots, using a uniform standard? That’s another story.
#4: Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)
Same-sex couples have fought an uphill battle for equal rights. In 1986, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a law against sodomy in Georgia. A decade later, Congress’ ‘Defense’ of Marriage Act denied federal recognition to same-sex marriages. It wasn’t until 2003 that the Supreme Court overturned its ruling on sodomy laws. In the 2013 case United States v. Windsor, it also struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act. This ruling paved the way for the landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges (which actually consolidated six lower-court cases), requiring all states to recognize same-sex marriages. The news was celebrated by many as conferring equal rights, but condemned in conservative religious camps, who argued that it curtailed religious liberty.
#3: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
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During the Reconstruction era, Congress abolished slavery and passed acts to protect the rights of African Americans, including access to public accommodation and transportation. However, in the 1883 Civil Rights Cases, the Supreme Court stepped in, ruling that Congress cannot outlaw racial discrimination by private individuals. In the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson, the Court decided that segregation was constitutional provided facilities were equal. This “separate but equal” doctrine ushered in a period of racial segregation that relegated Black people to second-class citizens. Only in 1954, with their unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, did the Supreme Court overturn this, ruling against segregation in public schools. It was a victory for the civil rights movement, but was met with passionate resistance from many white residents of the Deep South.
#2: Roe v. Wade (1973)
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There are few issues as divisive in the US as abortion. For half a century, however, the Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade held sway. Plaintiff “Jane Roe” (a pseudonym) had filed a lawsuit against district attorney Henry Wade, arguing that Texas’ laws against abortion were unconstitutional. The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the “right to privacy” includes a right to abortion. Regulation was permitted to protect a pregnant person’s health from the second trimester on, and prenatal life in the third. This incensed anti-abortion activists, who equated abortion with murder. In 1992, the trimester framework was replaced with “fetal viability” at 24 weeks. Just as controversial as the original ruling was the 6–3 decision to overturn it in 2022, which pro-abortion advocates saw as violating reproductive rights. Before we unveil our top pick, here are some honorable or dishonorable mentions. Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker (2008) The Court Reduced Punitive Damages for Victims of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill From $2.5 Billion to $500 Million Snyder v. Phelps (2011) This Ruling Allowed the Westboro Baptist Church to Continue Protesting at Funerals Engel v. Vitale (1962) Justices Ruled That Official Prayers in Public Schools Violated the Separation of Church & State Loving v. Virginia (1967) The Court Unanimously Struck Down Laws Banning Interracial Marriage National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012) The Court Upheld Congress' Power to Enact Provisions of Obamacare
#1: Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
The Supreme Court’s ruling in this case has been described as its worst decision of all time. Plaintiff Dred Scott was an enslaved black man who argued that because his ‘owner’ John Sanford had brought him in and out of territory where slavery was illegal, he’d been freed. The court ruled 7-2 against Scott, declaring that the Constitution doesn’t include citizenship for people of African descent! Chief Justice Roger Taney went further, striking down a federal law known as the Missouri Compromise. To describe this decision as “controversial” is putting it mildly. It pleased slaveholding states, but the others were furious … and four years later, the American Civil War engulfed the nation.
