Marbury v. Madison

Scott v. Sanford

Plessy v. Ferguson

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

Miranda v. Arizona

Roe v Wade

Obergefell v. Hodges. 

Students around our nation are briefly taught about this landmark Supreme Court Cases in United States History. What many teachers neglect to tell their students is that the United States Supreme Courts has rulings on a lot more than just these few widely known cases. Several of their decision have had devastating consequences for Black folks. The following are just a few of them. 

1. The Slaughterhouse-Cases, 1872

a. The decision consolidated three similar cases of cattle slaughter houses against the state of Louisiana. 

b. In its decision the Court nullified the Fourteenth amendment by holding that the Federal Government could not limit the power of states to deny basic rights to their own citizens.

2. United States v. Reese, 1876

a. In its decision the Court held that the Fifteenth Amendment did not grant African Americans a federal right to vote it only prohibited exclusion from voting on racial grounds. It allowed the Southern states to quickly disfranchise Black voters and by the early years of the 20th century all the former Confederate State passed new constitutions and amendments to attain disfranchisement.

3. United States v. Cruikshank, 1876

a. The 1872 Louisiana gubernatorial election was hotly disputed, and led to both major political parties certifying their slates of local officers. A federal judge ruled that the Republican-majority legislature be seated, but the Democrats did not accept this. On Easter Sunday, April 13, 1873, an armed militia of white Democrats attacked black Republican freedmen, who had gathered at the Grant Parish Courthouse in Colfax, Louisiana, to resist an attempt of Democratic takeover of the offices.

b. There were Federal charges brought against several members of the white insurgents under the Enforcement Act of 1870, which prohibited two or more people from conspiring to deprive anyone of their constitutional rights. The Enforcement Act was designed primarily to allow for Federal prosecution of the Ku Klux Klan. Convictions were appealed to the Supreme Court.

c. In its decision the Court struck down the Enforcement Act of 1870, holding that Congress was empowered to regulate only state action, not the acts of private citizens — even if they committed murder.

4. Screws v. United States, 1945

a. On January 29, 1943,  Claude Screws, the sheriff of Baker County, Georgia, arrested Robert "Bobby" Hall, an African- American. Hall had allegedly stolen a tire, and was alleged to have resisted arrest against Screws and two of his deputies. Hall was arrested at his home. Screws then beat the handcuffed Hall to death.

b. Screws was indicted on charges of violating Hall's civil rights. Screws was then convicted at the federal court house in Albany, Georgia. The conviction was upheld by the Circuit Court and then appealed to the Supreme Court. While the case was moving through the courts Screws was reelected as sheriff by a very wide margin.

c. In its decision the Court ruled that the federal government had not shown that Screws had the intention of violating Hall's civil rights when he killed him. The result of this ruling was the frequency with which federal civil rights cases were brought over the next few years was greatly reduced.