The Worst Supreme Court Decisions

Below are the worst Supreme Court decisions in our history. These rulings were not only unconstitutional, but they expanded the scope of the Constitution beyond its intent.

13. Marbury v Madison – Chief Justice John Marshall set precedent that federal courts could oversee congressional legislation. In making his decision Marshall cited “The Federalist” essays and not the law.

12. Fletcher v Peck – Marshal set precedent that the Supreme Court could oversee state legislative laws. In this decision Marshall ridiculously maintained that a contract made under bribery was still valid under the “Contracts Clause” of the Constitution.


11. Martin v Hunter’s Lessee – Marshall set precedent that the Supreme Court could oversee state judiciaries. In doing so, he once again overstepped his authority and power by violating the recently ratified Eleventh Amendment, which he would do on a continuous basis. Marshall would make other groundbreaking precedents by expanding the power of the Constitution’s “Contracts Clause” (Dartmouth College v Woodward) and the “Commerce Clause” (Gibbons v Ogden).

10. Dred Scott v Sandford – Chief Justice Roger Taney (for the most part was a very good Justice) ruled Scott remained a slave since Congress had no power to exclude slavery from a territory. Taney’s mistake was to hear the case because he knew he had no jurisdiction. The consequences of the Scott ruling further divided America and put the nation on the brink of Civil War.

9. Allgeyer v Louisiana – The court’s ruling expanded the use of the Fourteenth Amendment. First, the justices expanded the Constitution’s “Equal Protection Clause” to apply to corporations as well as people and this coupled with the Fourteenth Amendment’s “Due Process clause” allowed the Supreme Court to dictate legislation on individual corporations. Before long the court was dictating wages, work hours, and pricing.

8. Selective Draft Law Cases – The court decided that it was Constitutional to draft men into the armed forces because other foreign governments have this power! Thus, the court set precedent that the powers of the Constitution now cover everything that other foreign governments can do.

7. National Labor Board v Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation – The Supreme Court upheld FDR’s Wagner Act and this was the start of the Federal Government’s effort of supporting organized labor unions.

6. Helvering v Davis – The Supreme Court upheld FDR’s Social Security Act giving the federal government the power to set up a national retirement pension plan. This set the stage for the Supreme Court to rubber stamp FDR’s entire socialistic agenda on America.

5. Wickard v Filburn – The Supreme Court ruled that Roscoe Filburn could only grow so much wheat, even if any overage was used to feed his family. The significance of this decision has basically allowed the court to regulate just about anything using the “Commerce Clause”, which has essentially made the Tenth Amendment meaningless.

4. Tinker v. Des Moines – The Supreme Court expanded the First Amendment’s “freedom of speech clause” to include “freedom of expression”. Hence, the court later ruled that flag burning and other expressions are legal. Hate speech does not hurt anyone, but using actions to express those thoughts can be dangerous.

3. Brown v Board of Education – The Supreme Court felt obligated to legislate and take segregation matters into its own hands. They ruled that segregation of races in private schools was unconstitutional. The court also used the “Constitutions Supremacy Clause” to make this the Supreme Law of the land. This law prohibited assigning children to schools on the basis of their race. Not getting the results they wanted, the courts later changed this law and demanded local administrators and judges forcibly assign children to schools based on their race. This led to a huge public outcry since some kids had to be bused, several hours per day to meet local quotas, instead of going to the school across the street. This was the start of “integration” in not only southern states, but northern states. In essence, this ruling achieved the opposite of its intent and made integration harder.

2. Griggs v Duke Power Company – Was the courts first attempt to force affirmative action onto corporations. Oddly, the intent of affirmative action was to eliminate racial discrimination, but it did exactly that by discriminating against whites.

1. Roe v Wade – The courts decided that abortion was legal using the Fourteenth Amendment (Due process for former slaves). This imaginative ruling would be expanded to include laws about homosexuality and pornography.

Yes, it is admirable that Justices have empathy, but that cannot replace the law. Sure Justices hearts were in the right place for the Brown ruling, but in the long run it created more problems. Southern states were integrating slowly and the Supreme Court’s intervention only angered people further and therefore, slowed integration. Remember, people do not like government intervening on issues: healthcare and immigration are excellent examples of people protesting and pushing back on government power grabs.