District of Columbia v. Heller
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to keep and bear arms, or whether the right protected by the Second Amendment is a collective right held…
Cases
Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether the powers delegated to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act violate the fundamental constitutional doctrine of separation of powers? Plaintiff: Free…
Rothe Development Corporation v. U.S. Department of Defense
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether the United States may engage in racially discriminatory contracting in its procurement and contracting practices? Plaintiff: Rothe Development Corporation Defendant: U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department…
Crawford v. Marion County Election Board and Indiana Democratic Party v. Rokita
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether a state statute that requires voters to present a government-issued photo ID prior to casting a vote in person violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to…
Navajo Nation v. U.S. Forest Service
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether the use of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 to bar an otherwise legal use of a national forest violates the Establishment…
Wyoming v. U.S. Department of Agriculture
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether the Clinton Roadless Rule is an illegal attempt to circumvent the Wilderness Act of 1964 under which only Congress may designate federal land as wilderness? Plaintiff:…
Lozano v. Hazleton
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether an ordinance adopted by the City of Hazleton is unconstitutional because it invades an area preempted by the federal government—immigration? Plaintiff: Pedro Lozano; Humberto Hernandez; Rosa…
National Association of Home Builders v. Defenders of Wildlife, and EPA v. Defenders of Wildlife
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether the Environmental Protection Agency may transfer to the State of Arizona authority to issue Clean Water Act permits without imposing conditions to ensure protection of federally…
Large v. Fremont County, Wyoming
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA) requires the creation of voting districts for the election of county commissioners so as to ensure that members of certain…
State of Washington v. Washington Education Association
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether a union may use money derived from mandatory fees paid by a nonunion member for political purposes without the consent of the nonunion member? Plaintiff: State…
Coeur Alaska, Inc. v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, and State of Alaska v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether the Corps and the EPA reasonably concluded that the Section 404 program should govern material placed in waters of the United States where the material has…
Alliance for the Wild Rockies v. Kimbell
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether the Forest Service should be allowed to conduct timber thinning operations consistent with good forestry management practices? Plaintiff: The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and The…
Parents Involved In Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether a public school district may assign students to high school on the basis of their race for the alleged purpose of achieving diversity? Plaintiff: Parents Involved…
Colorado v. McCracken
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether an easement, held in trust by a state agency, that allows public access to private land for small game hunting, precludes the landowners from building a…
Lochness Properties, Inc. v. City of Sheridan, Colorado
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether the condemnation of private property to be conveyed to a private developer in order to generate increased tax revenues constitutes “public use” under the Colorado Constitution?…
San Juan County v. United States of America
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether environmental groups that claim no interest in property may intervene in Quiet Title Act litigation filed by San Juan County to determine whether it has an…
Wagnon v. Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether an American Indian Tribe may enjoin a State from imposing a tax on the receipt of motor fuel by off-reservation distributors who sell motor fuel to…
United States v. Rapanos
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether the Clean Water Act authorizes federal jurisdiction over isolated wetlands, on privately owned land, that do not abut a body of open water but lie approximately…
Fair v. Rumsfeld
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether Congress may condition the receipt of federal funding upon the willingness of colleges and universities to permit military recruiters upon their campuses? Plaintiff: Forum for Academic…
Medellin v. Texas
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether President Bush exceeded his authority in ordering the State of Texas to comply with an international treaty and must Texas ignore the Constitution and adhere to…
Medellin v. Dretke
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether the U.S. Supreme Court should apply international law in such a manner as to accord foreign citizens greater access to the courts of the land than…
Dynalantic Corp. v. U.S. Department of Defense
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether the use of racial preferences by the federal government violates the Equal Protection Component of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S.…
Friendly House v. Napolitano
Historical Case
Case Summary Issue: Whether a ballot initiative approved by the voters of Arizona (56 percent to 44 percent) to address voting and the receipt of benefits by illegal aliens violates…
Commissioner v. Banks & Commissioner v. Banaitis
Historical Case
Case Summary Whether, under Section 61(a) of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. 61(a), a taxpayer’s gross income from the proceeds of litigation includes the portion of his damages recovery…