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Barron v. Baltimore 

Barron v. Baltimore John Barron owned a wharf in Baltimore. The wharf became virtually worthless after city construction projects made the water surrounding it too shallow for most ships. Barron clai . . .

Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge 

Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge One of the classic cases of the Taney Court, Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge helped settle the boundaries between vested rights based on charters and contr . . .

Cherokee Nation v. Georgia 

Cherokee Nation v. Georgia Cherokee Nation v. Georgia marked the beginning of a tragedy of national scale, leading to the forced removal of hundreds of thousands of Native Americans from the eastern . . .

Cooley v. Board of Port Wardens of Philadelphia 

Cooley v. Board of Port Wardens of Philadelphia In this case the Court significantly shaped the doctrine of police powers as it affected interstate commerce. Unlike the fractured Court in The License . . .

Dred Scott v. Sandford 

Dred Scott v. Sandford Dred Scott was the second case in Supreme Court history in which all nine justices delivered an opinion. The case involved a suit for freedom by a slave named Dred Scott based . . .

Prigg v. Pennsylvania 

Prigg v. Pennsylvania In 1837 Edward Prigg and three other men seized as fugitive slaves Margaret Morgan and her children, who were living in Pennsylvania. Prigg and the others brought the blacks bac . . .

Smith v. Turner; Norris v. City of Boston 

Smith v. Turner; Norris v. City of Boston Also known as The Passenger Cases . . .

Swift v. Tyson 

Swift v. Tyson In Swift v. Tyson Justice Story clarified the use of state precedents in commercial litigation in federal courts. Story's opinion was the governing rule until overturned by Erie Railro . . .

United States v. Libellants and Claimants of the Schooner Amistad 

United States v. Libellants and Claimants of the Schooner Amistad Also known as The Amistad, 40 U.S. 518 (15 Pet. 518) (1841) . . .

Worcester v. Georgia 

Worcester v. Georgia In 1831 Georgia authorities arrested Samuel A. Worcester, a Congregational minister, for preaching on Cherokee lands without first obtaining a state license to reside on those la . . .