Supreme Court Decisions

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owers that are enumerated and implied by the Constitution.



3. 1824-Gibbons vs. Ogden
Constitutional principle: Federalsim; National power; the judiciary
Backround: Robert Livingston secured from the New York State Legislature an exclusive twenty-year grant to navigate the rivers and other waters of the State. The grant further provided that no one should be allowed to navigate New York waters by steam without a license from Livingston and his partner, Robert Fulton, and any unlicensed vessel should be forfeited to them. Ogden had secured a license for steam navigation from Fulton and Livingston. Gibbons originally had been partners with Odgen but was now his rival. Gibbons was operating steamboats between New York and New Jersey under the authority of a license obtained from the United States. Ogden petitioned the New York court and obtained an injunction ordering Gibbons to stop operating his boats in New York waters.
Decision: Writing for the Supreme Court of the United States, Justice Marshall said that the injunction against Gibbons was invalid because the monopoly granted by the New York statute conflicted with a valid federal law. The Court used this case to put forth the position that Congress can legislate and regulate all matters of interstate commerce as long as there is some commercial connection with another state.
Importance: While interstate commerce is regulated by Congress, power to regulate commerce is reserved to the states.
4. 1832-Worcester vs. Georgia
Constitutional principle: Federalsim; Property rights and economic policy; The judiciary
Backround: A Georgia law required all whites living in Cherokee Indian Territory to obtain a state license. Two missionaries refused to obey the state law, were arrested, convicted, and sentenced to four years of hard labor for violating the state licensing law. They appealed their case to the Supreme Court of the United States arguing that the laws they had been co...