The Civil Rights Cases (1883): Another testament to the Court's failure to protect civil rights, the Civil Rights Cases struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875.
In doing so, the Court made sure that the gains of the post-Civil War reconstruction era were quickly replaced by decades of Jim Crow laws.ĥ. Ferguson (1896): The Court's famous "separate but equal" ruling upheld state segregation laws. government, belying the idea that strict scrutiny is " strict in theory, fatal in fact."Ĥ. In a cruel and ironic twist, this was also the first time the Court applied strict scrutiny to racial discrimination by the U.S. United States (1944): Here, the Supreme Court upheld the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, finding that the need to protect against espionage outweighed the individual rights of American citizens. In an 8-1 decision written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, the Court upheld the forced sterilization of those with intellectual disabilities "for the protection and health of the state." Justice Holmes ruled that "society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind" and ended the opinion by declaring that "three generations of imbeciles are enough."ģ. Bell (1927): "Eugenics? Yes, please!" the Court declared in this terrible decision which still stands as good law.
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The opinion even included a ridiculous "parade of horribles" that would appear if Scott were recognized as a citizen, unspeakable scenarios like African Americans being able to vacation, hold public meetings, and exercise their free speech rights.Ģ. The ruling undid the Missouri Compromise, barred laws that would free slaves, and all but guaranteed that there would be no political solution to slavery. Sanford (1857): Hands down the worst Supreme Court decision ever, Dred Scott held that African Americans, whether free men or slaves, could not be considered American citizens.
Here is our overview of the 13 most terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Supreme Court decisions.ġ. Indeed, there are enough horrendous Supreme Court opinions to fill a book, or at least a blog post, and many of the Court's worst decisions still stand as good law. Most are boring, technical, and of little import to the general public.Īnd some are downright terrible. But not all Supreme Court opinions are great. Every once in awhile, the Supreme Court will decide a case that has widespread social and political impact, striking down discriminatory laws, upholding cherished institutions, protecting individual liberties.