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Impact: Challenged the 'separate but equal' doctrine and led to the desegregation of graduate and professional schools. Decision: Unanimous decision holding that separate professional schools for blacks failed to meet the standard of equality.

Impact: Invalidated sodomy laws in the United States, affirming the rights of privacy and equality for LGBTQ individuals. Decision: 6-3 decision holding that the state law criminalizing private homosexual activity between consenting adults is unconstitutional.

Impact: Extended the right to counsel to all criminal defendants in state courts. Decision: Unanimous decision holding that the Sixth Amendment's right to counsel is a fundamental right applicable to the states via the 14th Amendment.

Impact: For the first time, the Supreme Court applied the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to sex discrimination. Decision: Unanimous decision holding that administrators of estates cannot be named in a way that discriminates between sexes.

Impact: Established the principle of judicial review, empowering the Supreme Court to nullify an act of the legislative or executive branch that violates the Constitution. Decision: Unanimous decision that Secretary of State James Madison's refusal to deliver the commission was illegal, but ultimately the Court lacked jurisdiction.

Impact: Established Miranda rights, requiring police to inform detainees of their right to remain silent and obtain an attorney. Decision: Supreme Court held that the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination extends to police interrogation of a suspect.

Impact: Ruled against fixed racial quotas but allowed race to be considered a factor in admissions. Decision: Split decision that Allan Bakke must be admitted to the University of California Medical School at Davis, and that racial quotas were invalid.

Impact: Invalidated state laws prohibiting interracial marriage. Decision: Unanimous decision that Virginia's anti-miscegenation statutes violated both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Impact: Limited the scope of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, ruling that the 14th Amendment did not empower Congress to outlaw racial discrimination by private individuals. Decision: Court declared that the Act was unconstitutional as it applied to private acts of discrimination.

Impact: Landmark ruling that ended racial segregation in public schools. Decision: Unanimous decision stating that 'separate but equal' is unconstitutional in the context of public education.

Impact: Upheld the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ensuring that businesses could not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin. Decision: Unanimous decision that Congress could use the Commerce Clause to fight discrimination.

Impact: Upheld affirmative action, allowing race to be one of several factors in college admission policy. Decision: 5-4 decision holding that a university's use of racial 'quotas' in its admissions process was unconstitutional but that affirmative action programs could be constitutional.

Impact: Upheld the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Decision: 6-3 decision that the need to protect against espionage outweighed Fred Korematsu's individual rights.

Impact: Established a woman's legal right to an abortion. Decision: The Supreme Court ruled that state laws prohibiting abortion were unconstitutional based on the right to privacy.

Impact: Guaranteed the right to marry for same-sex couples nationwide. Decision: 5-4 decision that same-sex marriage bans violate both the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the 14th Amendment.

Impact: Ruled that racially restrictive housing covenants could not be enforced by courts. Decision: Court held that such covenants violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Impact: Upheld the affirmative action admissions policy of the University of Michigan Law School. Decision: 5-4 decision ruling that the University's use of race as a factor in admissions to achieve student body diversity did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Impact: Established the high standard of proving 'actual malice' for press reports about public officials to be considered defamation. Decision: Unanimous decision holding that the First Amendment protects the publication of all statements about public officials unless they are made with actual malice.

Impact: Affirmed the constitutionality of racial segregation under the 'separate but equal' doctrine. Decision: 7-1 decision upholding the legislative act requiring segregated railway carriages.