Law Faculty

Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U.S. 111; 63 S. Ct. 82; 87 L. Ed. 122 (1942) Facts—Filburn owned and operated a small farm in Montgomery County, Ohio, maintaining a herd of dairy cattle, selling milk, raising poultry, and selling poultry and…

United States v. Southeastern Underwriters Association 322 U.S. 533; 64 S. Ct. 1162; 88 L. Ed. 1440 (1944) Facts—The Southeastern Underwriters Association represented private stock companies that sold fire insurance in six southeastern states. They were indicted in a federal…

Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States, 379 U.S. 241; 85 S. Ct. 348; 13 L. Ed. 2d 258 (1964) Facts—The owner of a large motel in Atlanta, Georgia, which restricted its clientele to white persons, brought suit for…

United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549; 115 S. Ct. 1624; 131 L. Ed. 2d 626 (1995) Facts—A twelfth-grade student was convicted of violating the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 for knowingly possessing a firearm at a school. Lopez…

Jones v. United States, 529 U.S. 848; 120 S. Ct. 1904; 146 L. Ed. 2d 902 (2000) Facts—A section of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 made it a federal crime to damage a building “used in interstate or…

Gonzales v. Raich, 545 U.S. 1; 125 S. Ct. 2195; 162 L. Ed. 2d 1 (2005) Facts—Angel Raich and Diane Monson are California residents who had permission on the state’s Compassionate Use Act to use marijuana prescribed by medical doctors…

J.W. Hampton, Jr. & Co. v. United States, 276 U.S. 394; 48 S. Ct. 348; 72 L. Ed. 624 (1928) Facts—J.W. Hampton, Jr. and Company imported some goods at a New York port and was assessed a rate higher than…

Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan, 293 U.S. 388; 55 S. Ct. 241; 79 L. Ed. 446 (1935) Facts—Section 9 (c) of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) had given the president the power to forbid the transportation in interstate commerce…

Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495; 55 S. Ct. 837; 79 L. Ed. 1570 (1935) Facts—The A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. was convicted in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on an indictment…

United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp., 299 U.S. 304; 57 S. Ct. 216; 81 L. Ed. 255 (1936) Facts—Curtiss-Wright Export Corp. sold armaments to Bolivia, a country then engaged in armed conflict in the Chaco region in South America the…

Yakus v. United States, 321 U.S. 414; 64 S. Ct. 660; 88 L. Ed. 834 (1944) Facts—The petitioner was tried and convicted for willfully selling whole sale cuts of beef at prices above the maximum prices prescribed by the price…

Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361; 109 S. Ct. 647; 102 L. Ed. 2d 714 (1989) Facts—The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 created a Sentencing Commission consisting of seven members appointed by the president, and including three federal judges.…

McCulloch v. Maryland, 4 Wheaton (17 U.S.) 316; 4 L. Ed. 579 (1819) Facts—Although the U.S. Constitution made no direct mention of the sub[1]ject, Congress incorporated the Bank of the United States, a branch of which it established in Baltimore.…

McGrain v. Daugherty, 273 U.S. 135; 47 S. Ct. 319; 71 L. Ed. 580 (1927) Facts—The Senate decided to investigate the activities of Harry M. Daugherty, former attorney general of the United States. It subpoenaed Mally S. Daugherty, a brother…

Watkins v. United States, 354 U.S. 178; 77 S. Ct. 1173; 1 L. Ed. 2d 1273 (1957) Facts—John T. Watkins, a labor union organizer, appeared as a witness in compliance with a subpoena issued by a subcommittee of the Committee…

Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Holder, 129 S. Ct. 2504; 174 L. Ed. 2d 140; 2009 U.S. LEXIS 4539 (2009) Facts—A small utility district with an elected board in Texas was required by Section 5 of the…

Crawford v. Marion County, 128 S. Ct. 1610; 170 L. Ed. 2d 574 (2008) Facts—William Crawford and other petitioners (including the Indiana Democratic Party) challenged the constitutionality of Indiana’s Voter ID Law (SEA 483) that requires citizens voting in person…

Hammer v. Dagenhart, 247 U.S. 251; 38 S. Ct. 529; 62 L. Ed. 1101 (1918) Facts—In 1916 the Keating-Owen Act was passed. This provided that commodities produced under conditions in factories where children under fourteen years of age were employed…

The Shreveport Case (Houston, E. & W. Texas Ry. Co. v. United States), 234 U.S. 342; 34 S. Ct. 833; 58 L. Ed. 1341 (1914) Facts—This case involved the power of Congress and its agent, the Interstate Commerce Commission, to…

Champion v. Ames (The Lottery Case), 188 U.S. 321; 23 S. Ct. 321; 47 L. Ed. 492 (1903) Facts—Congress passed legislation in 1895 to suppress lottery traffic through national and interstate commerce and the postal service. The regulation provided a…

Facts—Eugene V. Debs and associates, officers of the American Railway Union, had instituted a strike against the Pullman Company of Chicago. To enforce their demands, they picketed the railway cars of that company and would not allow them to either…

United States v. E. C. Knight Co., 156 U.S. 1; 15 S. Ct. 249; 39 L. Ed. 325 (1895) Facts—The government charged that the E. C. Knight Company, with four others, had contracted with the American Sugar Refining Company for…