# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/81 "2008-09-30T13:36:44Z")
The first two that come to my mind are: Roe vs. Wade Dred Scott vs. Sandford Looking back over the thread, there are many I don’t recall at all. This includes Gideon v. Wainwright which I should recall and I remember a movie about Gideon. I also do not remember Marbury v. Madison & Plessy v. Ferguson. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/82 "2008-09-30T15:06:05Z")
> [@dactylic\_hexameter](#): > > Double Points for whoever knows why Muller v. Oregon is famous, and how it relates to Brown v. Board of Ed. (No cheating now!) It was the first example of the use of sociological jurisprudence as argument through a “Brandeis Brief,” the same legal theory that Marshall would use when he argued _Brown_. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/83 "2008-09-30T15:19:22Z")
Without cheating, I suspect that these have been most people’s two too: Brown vs. The Board of Education Roe vs. Wade (Why am I suddenly having Family Feud flashbacks?) ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/84 "2008-09-30T15:27:25Z")
> [@GomiBoy](#): > > One of my other favourites is (And not looking it up I can’t recall the name) one about a US Air Force officer who was Jewish not being allowed to wear his yarmulke because it was against AF regulation 35-10. He had to sue to the SCOTUS and won and the reg was changed to allow religious expression whilst indoors in uniform, with the only exception allowed for safety (i.e. rings and hats were still not allowed on the flight line regardless of religious affiliation because of safety regs). Goldman v. Weinberger. ---
**Author:** ![GomiBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@GomiBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GomiBoy)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/85 "2008-09-30T15:36:04Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Goldman v. Weinberger. That’s the one, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/86 "2008-09-30T15:36:06Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I also do not remember Marbury v. Madison & Plessy v. Ferguson. Oh, thank goodness it’s not just me. The names are familiar but the memory is coming up with 'nuttin. Dredd Scott and Miranda would have been #3 and #4 for me, though. (After some thought.) ---
**Author:** ![UncleNito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/7cd45c/32.png) [@UncleNito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleNito)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/87 "2008-09-30T15:41:33Z")
I’m in law school, so I don’t count. But sticking to cases I had heard of before law school: Mapp v. Ohio (secondary searches) I took an undergrad course in antitrust economics, so U.S. v. Standard Oil, U.S. v. DuPont, and all those chestnuts. Berkey v. Kodak was briefly relevant to one of the Microsoft cases (at least according to my term paper). Plus the usual suspects: Roe, Marbury, Brown. ---
**Author:** ![KSO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@KSO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KSO)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/88 "2008-09-30T15:58:32Z")
Marbury v. Madison Kelo v. New London (because I have a coffee mug on my desk with a quote from Justice Thomas’s dissent: “Something has gone seriously awry with this Court’s interpretation of the Constitution”) ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/89 "2008-09-30T16:04:08Z")
> [@Risha](#): > > Oh, thank goodness it’s not just me. The names are familiar but the memory is coming up with 'nuttin. > > Dredd Scott and Miranda would have been #3 and #4 for me, though. (After some thought.) Yep, for me Brown and Miranda would have been 3 & 4 and after that I don’t even think I know the names of any other cases from memory. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/90 "2008-09-30T16:08:21Z")
Seems amazing any reasonably intelligent American could not come up with - at least - Roe and Brown. I could probably name/describe 30 or so without breaking a sweat, but I kinda have an advantage in that area. From memory, I think the brief I drafted yesterday cited Pierce v. Underwood, Commissioner INS v. Jean, and Hensley v. Eckerhart. Maybe Sullivan v. Finklestein and 1 or 2 others, but I’m not sure. Can I be vice-president or do I have to shoot a moose first? ---
**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, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/91 "2008-09-30T16:13:28Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Can I be vice-president or do I have to shoot a moose first? The test for attorneys is a little different. It mostly involves math. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/92 "2008-09-30T16:24:20Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > The test for attorneys is a little different. It mostly involves math. That’s going to be rough. If I was any good at math, I’d be a doctor, not an attorney. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/93 "2008-09-30T16:26:17Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > The test for attorneys is a little different. It mostly involves math. But shooting an attorney in the face is another way to establish your bona fides, right? 😉 ---
**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, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/94 "2008-09-30T16:36:59Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > That’s going to be rough. If I was any good at math, I’d be a doctor, not an attorney. That’s why the IP folks get paid so handsomely. ---
**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, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/95 "2008-09-30T16:38:24Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > But shooting an attorney in the face is another way to establish your bona fides, right? 😉 Only if you then get that attorney to apologize to you for being shot. ---
**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, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/96 "2008-09-30T16:49:27Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > It was the first example of the use of sociological jurisprudence as argument through a “Brandeis Brief,” the same legal theory that Marshall would use when he argued _Brown_. 🙂 Well done **Pravnik**! Of course, you being an attorney, I expected nothing less… 😛 I wrote my major US History term paper on Louis Brandeis and how the Brandeis brief was a culmination of his lawyering career, but not particularly novel for him. Eight years later, I’m still proud of it. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/97 "2008-09-30T17:18:41Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Let’s face it. Roe v Wade and Brown v The Board of Education are the biggies (and the two I would have said), but even if you don’t know that everyone knows abortion is legal and segregation has been outlawed in schools. Perhaps not in some governor’s minds… TBH, I could only come up with Roe vs. Wade. So, I’m eligible to be VP candidate. ---
**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, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/98 "2008-09-30T17:25:01Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > The test for attorneys is a little different. It mostly involves math. Attorneys can do math. But watch how they do it: they put a in front of all the figures while working the problem, and then take it out when done, unless it actually refers to , in which case they keep all the $. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/99 "2008-09-30T17:34:10Z")
In the Quayle years, the joke was that the Veep thought _Roe v. Wade_ was a consideration of methods of crossing the river. Off the top of my head I came up with: _Roe v. Wade McCulloch v. Maryland Strickland v. Washington D.C. v. Heller Schechter Poultry v. U.S. Youngstown Sheet & Tube v. Sawyer Bush v. Gore Marbury v. Madison Korematsu v. U.S. U.S. v. Nixon Loving v. Virginia Lawrence v. Texas Bowers v. Hardwick Gideon v. Wainwright Mapp v. Ohio_ …and a bunch more I know by the name of only one party, like _Carolene Products_. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770/100 "2008-09-30T17:41:15Z")
Roe Versus Wade is the only one I know. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-anyone-on-this-board-who-cannot-name-two-supreme-court-cases/465770.md?page=6)