Landmark Cases: Historic Supreme Court Decisions

Last updated
Landmark Cases: Historic Supreme Court Decisions
Presented by Susan Swain
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes24
Production
Executive producersMark Farkas
Ben O'Connell
Running time90 minutes
Release
Original network C-SPAN

Landmark Cases: Historic Supreme Court Decisionsis a series first aired by C-SPAN in the fall of 2015 about 12 key cases argued in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. A second season aired in the winter and spring of 2018, in which 12 additional cases were discussed. [1] Each episode is 90 minutes long, airs live, and examines a specific case in detail. The series is hosted by Susan Swain, and episodes typically feature two legal scholars discussing the case, video footage from locations pertinent to the case, and questions and comments from viewers. C-SPAN produced the series in conjunction with the National Constitution Center. [2]

Contents

Supreme Court journalist Tony Mauro wrote companion books for each season, which were published by C-SPAN and CQ Press. They drew on Mauro's earlier book Illustrated Great Decisions of the Supreme Court. [3] [4]

Table of episodes

First air date
(with link to video)
CaseYear of
case
Featured guests
First season (October 5, 2015 - December 21, 2015)
October 5, 2015 Marbury v. Madison 1803 Akhil Reed Amar
Clifford Sloan
October 12, 2015 Scott v. Sandford 1857 Christopher Bracey
Martha Jones
October 19, 2015 The Slaughterhouse Cases 1873 Paul Clement
Michael Ross
October 26, 2015 Lochner v. New York 1905 Randy Barnett
Paul Kens
November 2, 2015 Schenck v. United States 1919 Beverly Gage
Thomas Goldstein
November 9, 2015 Korematsu v. United States 1944 Peter Irons
Karen Korematsu
November 16, 2015 Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer 1952 Michael Gerhardt
William G. Howell
November 23, 2015 Brown v. Board of Education 1954 Jeffrey Rosen *
Tomiko Brown-Nagin
November 30, 2015 Mapp v. Ohio 1962 Carolyn Long
Renee Hutchins
December 7, 2015 Baker v. Carr 1962 Theodore Olson
J. Douglas Smith
December 14, 2015 Miranda v. Arizona 1966 Jeffrey Rosen
Paul Cassel
December 21, 2015 Roe v. Wade 1973 Clarke Forsythe
Melissa Murray
Second season (February 26, 2018 - May 14, 2018)
February 26, 2018 McCulloch v. Maryland 1819 Mark Killenbeck
Farah Peterson
March 5, 2018 The Civil Rights Cases 1883 Danielle Holley-Walker
Peter Kirsanow
March 12, 2018 Yick Wo v. Hopkins 1886 Josh Blackman
Mae Ngai
March 19, 2018 Plessy v. Ferguson 1896 Michael Klarman
Ted Shaw
March 26, 2018 Gideon v. Wainwright 1963 Akhil Reed Amar
Paul Clement
April 2, 2018 Griswold v. Connecticut 1965 Helen Alvare
Rachel Rebouche
April 9, 2018 Katz v. United States 1967 Jamil Jaffer
Jeffrey Rosen
April 16, 2018 Brandenburg v. Ohio 1969 Katie Fallow
Nadine Strossen
April 23, 2018 Tinker v. Des Moines 1969 Erik Jaffe
Mary Beth Tinker
April 30, 2018 New York Times v. United States 1971 Floyd Abrams
Ted Olson
May 7, 2018 Gregg v. Georgia 1976 Kent Scheidegger
Carol Steiker
May 14, 2018 Regents of Univ. Cal v. Bakke 1978 Randy Barnett
Neal Katyal

Note: Kannon Shanmugam had originally been scheduled to appear on this program, but was replaced by Rosen. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supreme Court of the United States</span> Highest court in the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of U.S. Constitutional or federal law. It also has original jurisdiction over a narrow range of cases, specifically "all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party." The court holds the power of judicial review, the ability to invalidate a statute for violating a provision of the Constitution. It is also able to strike down presidential directives for violating either the Constitution or statutory law. However, it may act only within the context of a case in an area of law over which it has jurisdiction. The court may decide cases having political overtones, but has ruled that it does not have power to decide non-justiciable political questions.

This page serves as an index of lists of United States Supreme Court cases. The United States Supreme Court is the highest federal court of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solicitor General of the United States</span> Third-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice

The solicitor general of the United States, the third-highest ranking official within the United States Department of Justice, represents the federal government in cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Elizabeth Prelogar has served in the role since October 28, 2021.

McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. 316 (1819), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that defined the scope of the U.S. Congress's legislative power and how it relates to the powers of American state legislatures. The dispute in McCulloch involved the legality of the national bank and a tax that the state of Maryland imposed on it. In its ruling, the Supreme Court established firstly that the "Necessary and Proper" Clause of the U.S. Constitution gives the U.S. federal government certain implied powers necessary and proper for the exercise of the powers enumerated explicitly in the Constitution, and secondly that the American federal government is supreme over the states, and so states' ability to interfere with the federal government is restricted. Since the legislature has the authority to tax and spend, the court held that it therefore has authority to establish a national bank, as being "necessary and proper" to that end.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Paul Stevens</span> United States Supreme Court justice from 1975 to 2010

John Paul Stevens was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1975 to 2010. At the time of his retirement, he was the second-oldest justice in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court and the third-longest-serving justice. At the time of his death in 2019 at age 99, he was the longest-lived Supreme Court justice ever. His long tenure saw him write for the Court on most issues of American law, including civil liberties, the death penalty, government action, and intellectual property. Despite being a registered Republican who throughout his life identified as a conservative, Stevens was considered to have been on the liberal side of the Court at the time of his retirement.

City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507 (1997), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States concerning the scope of Congress's power of enforcement under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. The case also had a significant impact on historic preservation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Roberts</span> Chief Justice of the United States since 2005 (born 1955)

John Glover Roberts Jr. is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as the 17th chief justice of the United States since 2005. He has been described as having a conservative judicial philosophy though is primarily an institutionalist. He has shown a willingness to work with the Supreme Court's liberal bloc, and had been previously regarded as the primary swing vote on the Court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeffrey Toobin</span> American lawyer and author

Jeffrey Ross Toobin is an American lawyer, author, blogger, and longtime legal analyst for CNN. He announced his exit from CNN in August 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Procedures of the Supreme Court of the United States</span>

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. The procedures of the Court are governed by the U.S. Constitution, various federal statutes, and its own internal rules. Since 1869, the Court has consisted of one chief justice and eight associate justices. Justices are nominated by the president, and with the advice and consent (confirmation) of the U.S. Senate, appointed to the Court by the president. Once appointed, justices have lifetime tenure unless they resign, retire, or are removed from office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supreme Court of the United States in fiction</span>

Like many institutions that draw public interest, the Supreme Court of the United States has frequently been depicted in fiction, often in the form of legal drama. While early depictions of the Supreme Court in fiction tended to be reverential, over time depictions became more critical and melodramatic. In some instances, real decisions rendered by real courts are dramatized, as in Gideon's Trumpet and the seminal trial in The People vs. Larry Flynt. Other depictions are purely fictional, but center on realistic issues that come before the court. Despite the comparative dearth of material on the Supreme Court in popular culture as compared to other branches of government, such depictions are "the primary source of the public's knowledge about the legal system as a whole, including the Supreme Court".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Katzmann</span> American judge (1953–2021)

Robert Allen Katzmann was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He served as chief judge from September 1, 2013, to August 31, 2020.

Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. 1 (1958), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, which denied the school board of Little Rock, Arkansas the right to delay racial desegregation for 30 months. On September 12, 1958, the Warren Court handed down a per curiam decision which held that the states are bound by the Court's decisions and must enforce them even if the states disagree with them, which asserted judicial supremacy established in Marbury v. Madison (1803). The decision in this case upheld the rulings in Brown v. Board of Education and Brown II which held that the doctrine of separate but equal was unconstitutional.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeffrey Rosen (legal academic)</span> American academic and commentator on legal affairs

Jeffrey Rosen is an American academic and commentator on legal affairs, who is widely published on legal issues and constitutional law. Since 2013, he has served as the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, in Philadelphia.

Tony Mauro is an American journalist and author who has covered the United States Supreme Court since 1979, most recently for The National Law Journal and other ALM publications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sri Srinivasan</span> American jurist

Padmanabhan Srikanth "Sri" Srinivasan is an Indian-born American lawyer and jurist serving as the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Before he was a circuit judge, Srinivasan served as Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States and argued 25 cases before the United States Supreme Court. He has also lectured at Harvard Law School.

<i>Freedom for the Thought That We Hate</i> 2007 non-fiction book

Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment is a 2007 non-fiction book by journalist Anthony Lewis about freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of thought, and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The book starts by quoting the First Amendment, which prohibits the U.S. Congress from creating legislation which limits free speech or freedom of the press. Lewis traces the evolution of civil liberties in the U.S. through key historical events. He provides an overview of important free speech case law, including U.S. Supreme Court opinions in Schenck v. United States (1919), Whitney v. California (1927), United States v. Schwimmer (1929), New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964), and New York Times Co. v. United States (1971).

<i>First Ladies: Influence & Image</i> American television series

First Ladies: Influence & Image is a 35-episode American television series produced by C-SPAN that originally aired from February 25, 2013 to February 10, 2014. Each episode originally aired live and looked at the life and times of one or more of the first ladies of the United States. Episodes featured interviews with historians, journalists, and other experts; included footage of locations significant to the featured first lady and interviews with several contemporary first ladies; and incorporated calls and tweets from viewers. C-SPAN has archived all video from the series to its website. It was produced in cooperation with the White House Historical Association, and was hosted by C-SPAN co-CEO Susan Swain.

<i>Cutting the Mustard</i> 1987 non-fiction book by Marjorie Heins

Cutting the Mustard: Affirmative Action and the Nature of Excellence is a 1987 non-fiction book by civil libertarian and United States lawyer Marjorie Heins about the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and its relationship to affirmative action and sexism. Heins discusses the case of Nancy Richardson, dean of student affairs at the Boston University School of Theology, who was removed from her position by the school's administration in 1981. Heins represented Richardson in an unsuccessful lawsuit against Boston University for wrongful termination and sexism. Cutting the Mustard recounts the case, interspersing reflections on the lawsuit with a discussion of relevant case law, decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States related to affirmative action and multiple criticisms of contradictory court decisions in affirmative-action cases.

<i>In the Dark</i> (podcast) True crime podcast

In the Dark is a podcast produced by American Public Media (APM), with episodes released between September 2016 and October 2020. Hosted and narrated by Madeleine Baran, and produced by Samara Freemark, the series featured investigative journalism and in-depth reportage from APM's investigative reporting and documentary unit, APM Reports. The series produced two full seasons, each focusing on a high-profile case and the actions and conduct in the policing or prosecuting of those cases — the kidnapping/murder of Jacob Wetterling and the quadruple homicide case for which Curtis Flowers was tried 6 times. A subsequent "Special Report" series, released in Spring 2020, reported on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Mississippi Delta. The series was cancelled in May 2022 as part of APM's dissolving of APM Reports and "incorporating select programming elements" from the unit into its MPR News operation. In March 2023, In the Dark joined The New Yorker to produce and distribute the upcoming third season.

Landmark cases may refer to:

References

  1. "BEGINNING FEBRUARY 26, 2018: A Second Season of C-SPAN's Special History Series: "Landmark Cases: Historic Supreme Court Decisions"" (PDF). C-SPAN. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  2. Eggerton, John (10 September 2015). "C-SPAN Profiles Landmark Supreme Court Cases". Broadcasting & Cable. Archived from the original on 27 December 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  3. "Landmark Cases Book". Landmark Cases. C-SPAN. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  4. "Landmark Cases: Historic Supreme Court Decisions, Volume 2". C-SPAN.
  5. Walsh, Mark (20 November 2015). "C-SPAN to Examine Brown v. Board of Education in 'Landmark Cases' Series". Education Week. Archived from the original on 5 April 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.