Fifty Of The Worst Supreme Court Decisions

It is "a thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please."

[President Thomas Jefferson, referring to the Constitution of the United States of America, in a letter to Spencer Roane, in reaction to Chief Justice John Marshall's decision in the landmark case of Marbury v. Madison, which established the principle of judicial review.]

PREFACE

Several years ago I intended to write a book entitled The Fifty Worst Supreme Court Decisions, and to that end I did considerable research and some writing. For a variety of reasons, including the press of time and other commitments, I put the book aside. Now, I've decided to go forward with the project, but with two differences.

First, as I've gotten deeper and deeper into Supreme Court decisions beginning in the late Eighteenth Century, it has become difficult to limit the really bad ones to a mere fifty. Hence, the new title: Fifty of the Worst Supreme Court Decisions. This title will enable me to add others as I decide they qualify.

Second, instead of using conventional publishing methods as I've done with other of my books, I'm going to "publish" Fifty Of The Worst Supreme Court Decisions here on my website, at www.henrymarkholzer.com.

Among other benefits, this approach will enable me to write the book whenever I can take the time from more pressing commitments, its dissemination to the public will be much broader on the Internet than conventionally, and Fifty Of The Worst Supreme Court Decsions will be available without charge to readers.

Accordingly, as I write I 'll notify everyone through my blog that I've posted a new case. One can register for my blog by going to www.henrymarkholzer.blogspot,com.

Feedback is welcome, but time constraints will not allow me to reply to it.

To access a case, simply click on the highlighted subject above it and, if necessary, scroll down.

FIFTY OF THE WORST SUPREME COURT DECSIONS

By Henry Mark Holzer

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

PART I. REPUBLICAN INSTITUTIONS

Federalism

M'Culloch v. Maryland: The Necessary and Proper Clause and the Jefferson- Hamilton Duel

Gibbons v. Ogden: The Interstate Commerce Clause and Robert Fulton's Steamboat

Wickard v. Filburn: Intra-state Commerce and Home Grown Wheat

Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States: Interstate Commerce and "Morality"

Gonzales v. Raich: John Marshall and Mary Jane

Separation of powers

Estelle v. Gamble: The Court Discovers "Prisoners' Rights"

Morrison v. Olson: The Independent Counsel and the Chipping Court

Clinton v. New York: The Line Item Veto and Out of Control Spending

Hamdi v. Rumsfeld: Due Process and Enemy Combatants

Rasul v. Bush: Enemy Combatants and Habeas Corpus

Judicial power

Gitlow v. New York: "Incorporating" the Bill of Rights

Palko v. Connecticut: Divining "Substantive Due Process"

Griswold v. Connecticut: Manufacturing the "Right to Privacy"

Shapiro v. Thompson: Inventing the "Right to Travel"

Missouri v. Jenkins (I): Running the local public Schools

PART II. INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS

Contracts

Legal Tender Cases: From Greenbacks to Greenspan

Muller v. Oregon: Ladies, Laundries, and the Third Reich

Blaisdell v. Home Building & Loan Association: Mortgages in Name Only

Shelley v. Kraemer: Private Property, Liberty of Contract, and Racially Restrictive Covenants

Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co.: Another Nail in Contract's Coffin

Property

Speech/Press/Association

THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN INDEFINITELY SUSPENDED BECAUSE GIVEN THE STATE OF OUR REPUBLIC UNDER THE RULE OF BARACK OBAMA, I BELIEVE THAT THE TIME AVAILABLE FOR ME TO USE MY LEGAL AND WRITING SKILL IN PROTEST CAN BE PUT TO MUCH BETTER USE.