# Is there anyone on this board who cannot name two Supreme Court cases? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 29, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770 "2008-09-29T22:55:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/41 "2008-09-29T23:48:56Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > I agree with this, although obviously you need to know some to be conversant about contemporary politics. Perhaps I should have phrased the OP as “identify two important Supreme Court cases.” Knowing the names helps establish communication, and is therefore good. It even allows for coded communication as in 2000 with Bush mentioning Dred Scott instead of Roe. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/42 "2008-09-29T23:53:51Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Ah, mammals. We have those here. I was kidding about the Court of Exchequer analogy, if my sarcasm wasn’t evident. The United States is one of the few countries where the judicial branch is truly a separate branch of government. Constitutional decisions cannot be overturned by an act of Congress like court decisions in England can be by the House of Lords. To understand our current politics, you have to understand a handful of key Supreme Court decisions (whether by name or content). Consequently, we learn a lot of these decisions in school and they are central to a lot of our political discourse in a way that is pretty unique to the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/43 "2008-09-29T23:55:28Z")
I thought it must be something like that. Cheers. ---
**Author:** ![torie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@torie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torie)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/44 "2008-09-29T23:58:37Z")
Without looking at the thread. Roe Vs. Wade. Brown Vs. Board of Education…I _think_ it’s Brown. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/45 "2008-09-30T00:16:18Z")
Knowing (or at least being able to recognize) the names is important for the same reason that being conversant with major works of literature is important; people will allude to them. Saying that something is “like Plessy v. Ferguson” is the same thing as saying, I don’t know, “That guy’s no Solomon!” It’s common knowledge for the educated American, at least, and something it’s good to be conversant with to understand allusions, if not to understand important rights and such. ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/46 "2008-09-30T00:30:28Z")
Printz v. United States Buck v. Bell ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/47 "2008-09-30T00:34:34Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Ah, mammals. We have those here. _Buttered_ mammals. Mmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/48 "2008-09-30T00:55:30Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > _Buttered_ mammals. Mmmm. Roe v Wade is the only one I know and I had no idea what it refered to. So in answer to the op - yes I can’t. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/49 "2008-09-30T01:00:43Z")
> [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](#): > > Roe v Wade is the only one I know and I had no idea what it refered to. So in answer to the op - yes I can’t. My apologies. I should have limited the OP to U.S. adults. ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/50 "2008-09-30T01:02:22Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Nix v Hedden (my favorite SCotUS case… heh) Damn! I was just coming in here to mention that one! Oddly enough it was the first case to pop into my head upon reading the thread title. 😃 Oh, and another recent and somewhat controversial case nobody’s mentioned yet: _District of Columbia v. Heller_. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/51 "2008-09-30T01:47:01Z")
Another damn foreigner here. I got Roe v Wade but my second example – which I remembered as that monkey evolution school thing – wasn’t in the Supreme Court. It was actually Scopes v. State, 152 Tenn. 424, 278 S.W. 57 (Tenn. 1925. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/52 "2008-09-30T02:05:05Z")
> [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](#): > > Another damn foreigner here. I got Roe v Wade but my second example – which I remembered as that monkey evolution school thing – wasn’t in the Supreme Court. It was actually Scopes v. State, 152 Tenn. 424, 278 S.W. 57 (Tenn. 1925. Goodness, I don’t think many of _us_ know it by that name. Over here, it’s “The Scopes Monkey Trial”. Seriously. (But yes, not SCotUS.) ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/53 "2008-09-30T02:22:58Z")
That’s odd that everyone is saying Brown v. Board of Education; for some reason I wouldn’t have even thought of that one. (I immediately thought of Roe v. Wade and Marbury v. Madison.) Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/54 "2008-09-30T02:23:38Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > Just one more from me for extra fun… > > Pennoyer v Neff The SDMB has a don’t be a jerk rule. There is nothing about Pennoyer that is not jerkish. Gertz v. Welch New York Times v. Sullivan Cohen v. California Earlier posters got all the obvious ones. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/55 "2008-09-30T03:09:46Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Goodness, I don’t think many of _us_ know it by that name. Over here, it’s “The Scopes Monkey Trial”. Seriously. (But yes, not SCotUS.) It had never occurred to me before this instant how absurd that is. Seriously, “Scopes Monkey Trial”? ---
**Author:** ![dactylic\_hexameter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d26b3c/32.png) [@dactylic\_hexameter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dactylic_hexameter)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/56 "2008-09-30T03:14:25Z")
My personal favorites: Muller v. Oregon Lochner v. New York Double Points for whoever knows why Muller v. Oregon is famous, and how it relates to Brown v. Board of Ed. (No cheating now!) The famous ones: Marbury v Madison Roe v. Wade Gore v. Bush Plessy v. Ferguson Brown v. Board of Ed ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/57 "2008-09-30T04:00:47Z")
I thought of Title IX first off but can’t remember the case name… _checks_ ah. Franklin v Gwinnett County Public Schools. Affirmative Action (UC v Bakke). Planned Parenthood v Casey. Then Plessy v Ferguson. Then Lawrence v Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/58 "2008-09-30T04:22:07Z")
The People vs Larry Flint 🆒 Miller v. California Hustler Magazine v. Falwell ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/59 "2008-09-30T04:25:51Z")
Escobedo v. Illinois McCulloch v. Maryland ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/60 "2008-09-30T04:27:16Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > It had never occurred to me before this instant how absurd that is. Seriously, “Scopes Monkey Trial”? It was a demeaning nickname, you know, “He says that people come from monkeys, instead of believing in the true word of God.” Valete, Vox Imperatoris [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770.md?page=4)