Quotes - Landmark Supreme Court Cases

“It is emphatically the duty of the Judicial Department to say what the law is.” – Chief Justice John Marshall

• Marbury v. Madison

• United States v. Nixon

• Bush v. Gore

• Miranda v. Arizona

“The problem of a defendant's federal constitutional right to counsel in a state court has been a continuing source of controversy and litigation in both state and federal courts.” - Justice Hugo L. Black

• Miranda v. Arizona

• Gideon v. Wainwright

• In Re Gault

• Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier

“To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.” – Chief Justice Earl Warren

• Plessy v. Ferguson

• Tinker v. Des Moines

• Dred Scott v. Sanford

• Brown v. Board of Education

“We also conclude there was a sufficient preliminary showing that each of the subpoenaed tapes contains evidence admissible with respect to the offenses charged in the indictment. The most cogent objection to the admissibility of the taped conversations here at issue is that they are a collection of out-of-court statements by declarants who will not be subject to cross-examination, and that the statements are therefore inadmissible hearsay.” – Chief Justice Warren Burger

• Bush v. Gore

• United States v. Nixon

• Marbury v. Madison

• D.C. v. Heller

“In view of this, it would be extraordinary if our Constitution did not require the procedural regularity and the exercise of care implied in the phrase ‘due process.’ Under our Constitution, the condition of being a boy does not justify a kangaroo court.” – Justice Abe Fortas

• In Re Gault

• Gideon v. Wainwright

• Tinker v. Des Moines

• Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier

“Educators are entitled to exercise greater control over this second form of student expression to assure that participants learn whatever lessons the activity is designed to teach, that readers or listeners are not exposed to material that may be inappropriate for their level of maturity, and that the views of the individual speaker are not erroneously attributed to the school.” – Justice Byron White

• In Re Gault

• Tinker v. Des Moines

• Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier

• Miranda v. Arizona

“We consider the underlying fallacy of the plaintiff's argument to consist in the assumption that the enforced separation of the two races stamps the colored race with a badge of inferiority. If this be so, it is not by reason of anything found in the act, but solely because the colored race chooses to put that construction upon it.” – Justice Henry Billings Brown

• In Re Gault

• Brown v. Board of Education

• Plessy v. Ferguson

• Dred Scott v Sanford

“First Amendment rights, applied in light of the special characteristics of the school environment, are available to teachers and students. It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” – Justice Abe Fortas

• Tinker v. Des Moines

• Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier

• In Re Gault

• Marbury v. Madison

“Prior to any questioning, the person must be warned that he has a right to remain silent, that any statement he does make may be used as evidence against him, and that he has a right to the presence of an attorney, either retained or appointed.” – Chief Justice Earl Warren

• D.C. v. Heller

• Gideon v. Wainwright

• In Re Gault

• Miranda v. Arizona

"it is too clear for dispute, that the enslaved African race were not intended to be included, and formed no part of the people who framed and adopted this declaration. . . ." - Chief Justice Roger B. Taney

• Dred Scott v. Sanford

• Plessy v. Ferguson

• Brown v. Board of Education

• Marbury v. Madison