Landmark US Constitutional Cases and Legal Doctrines

Landmark Supreme Court Case Matching

• Incorporates the Establishment Clause/Freedom of Religion: Everson v. Board of Education
• Court limits baker's hours (Economic Due Process): Lochner v. New York
• Overrules Muller v. Oregon (related to minimum wage): Adkins/Shilling Household
• Home ownership protection (mortgage suspension): Home Building & Loan Ass'n v. Blaisdell
• Struck down minimum wage for women and children: Adkins v. Children's Hospital
• Marshall Court blocks state interference with contracts: Dartmouth College v. Woodward
• Court incorporates freedom of the press: Near v. Minnesota
• Incorporates the right to trial by jury: Duncan v. Louisiana

Key Legal Doctrines and Constitutional Concepts

Dual Federalism

• Concept where national and state governments exercise authority within separate, self-contained areas of public policy and administration.
• Yields to the states when there is an overlap between federal and state authority, preserving state autonomy.

Coercive Federalism

• The Federal Government often uses federal grants to compel states to adopt policies it cannot mandate directly.
• The Federal Government compels states to act through grants or withholding funds.
  • Example: South Dakota v. Dole (drinking age linked to highway funds).

Cooperative Federalism

• Powers and functions are shared among national, state, and local authorities.
• When an overlap occurs, the system tends to yield to the Federal Government (prevalent post-1937 revolution).

Intermediate Scrutiny (Gender-Based Classification)

• The challenged governmental action must serve an important government objective and must be substantially related to achieving that objective.
• This standard is primarily used for gender discrimination cases.

Selective Incorporation

• Freedoms and liberties of the Bill of Rights are incorporated to the states on a case-by-case basis via the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause.

Eminent Domain

• The government can take private land for public use as long as they provide just compensation (Fifth Amendment requirement).
• The power to take private property for public use by a state following the payment of just compensation to the owner of that property.

The Tenth Amendment

• "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Economic Due Process and Related Cases

The Slaughterhouse Cases (1873)

• These cases addressed the violation of economic due process rights of property owners, though they narrowly interpreted the 14th Amendment's Privileges or Immunities Clause.
• This era saw a string of cases concerning economic regulation:
  • Lochner v. New York: Struck down a law setting maximum hours for bakers, arguing it violated the right to contract (Economic Due Process).
  • Muller v. Oregon: Went the other direction, upholding protections for women in the workplace.
    • Cited scientific evidence (known as the Brandeis Brief).
  • Adkins v. Children's Hospital: Overturned minimum wage legislation for women.
  • Dartmouth College v. Woodward: Focused on the Contract Clause, protecting corporate charters.
  • West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish: Upheld minimum wage laws, effectively ending the Lochner era.
• Home Building and Loan Ass'n v. Blaisdell: Allowed a great mortgage suspension during the Great Depression, despite Contract Clause challenges.