Structural Cases

Supreme Court decisions that drew the lines between the branches and between Washington and the states.

Baker v. Carr (1962)

The case that opened federal courts to challenges against malapportioned legislative districts and defined the modern political question doctrine

Bush v. Gore (2000)

The case that ended the Florida recount in the 2000 presidential election, effectively deciding the presidency for George W. Bush

Chevron v. NRDC (1984) Dissolved

The case that told courts to defer to reasonable agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, the most cited administrative law ruling until it was overruled in 2024

Clinton v. City of New York (1998)

The case that struck down the Line Item Veto Act, holding that the President cannot cancel parts of a law after signing it

Cooper v. Aaron (1958)

The Little Rock case in which all nine justices declared that state officials are bound by the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Constitution

Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)

The steamboat case in which Chief Justice John Marshall read the Commerce Clause broadly and struck down a state monopoly that conflicted with federal law

Humphrey's Executor v. United States (1935)

The case that let Congress protect independent commissioners from being fired by the President, now under challenge

INS v. Chadha (1983)

The case that struck down the legislative veto in nearly two hundred laws in a single ruling

Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (2024)

The case that overruled Chevron and ended forty years of judicial deference to agency readings of ambiguous laws

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

The case that established the power of federal courts to strike down laws that violate the Constitution

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

The case that confirmed Congress's implied powers and barred states from taxing federal institutions

Morrison v. Olson (1988)

The case that upheld the independent counsel law over Justice Antonin Scalia's famous lone dissent

Myers v. United States (1926)

The case holding that the President may remove executive officers he appoints without the Senate's consent, the foundation of modern removal power doctrine

NFIB v. Sebelius (2012)

The Affordable Care Act case that upheld the individual mandate as a tax, rejected it under the Commerce Clause, and limited the Medicaid expansion

NLRB v. Noel Canning (2014)

The case that limited recess appointments, holding that the Senate is in session when it says it is and that breaks under ten days are presumptively too short

Powell v. McCormack (1969)

The case holding that the House cannot exclude a duly elected member who meets the Constitution's age, citizenship, and residence requirements

Printz v. United States (1997)

The case holding that Congress cannot order state and local officers to carry out federal programs, the core of the anti-commandeering doctrine

Seila Law v. CFPB (2020)

The case holding that an agency led by a single director cannot be shielded from presidential removal, a key step in expanding presidential control of agencies

Trump v. Anderson (2024)

The case holding that states cannot disqualify federal candidates under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, reversing Colorado's removal of Donald Trump from its ballot

Trump v. CASA (2025)

The case that sharply limited universal injunctions, holding that federal courts generally may grant relief only to the parties before them

Trump v. United States (2024)

The presidential immunity decision: absolute for core powers, presumptive for other official acts, none for private conduct

United States v. Nixon (1974)

The unanimous ruling that forced a President to surrender the Watergate tapes and led to his resignation

West Virginia v. EPA (2022)

The case that formally named the major questions doctrine, limiting the EPA's power to shift the electricity grid away from coal

Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952)

The steel seizure case, and the three-part framework for judging presidential power that courts still use