5 Important Cases Decided Under Roberts Court

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan
Photo: Steve Petteway, Collection of the SCOTUS

Chief Justice John Roberts made headlines in 2012 when he upheld the then-controversial Obamacare, and it’s seen as the leading opinion in decades.  In June, another landmark case is set to be handled by the Supreme Court with Sebelius v Hobby Lobby Stores, a highly anticipated event that deals with the Affordable Care Act, religious freedom and women’s right to access contraception.

In 2005, President George W. Bush nominated Roberts as Chief Justice of the United States and since his appointment he has presided over dozens of milestone cases. Here are five landmark judgments that have been handed down by the Roberts court.

1. In Dukes v Wal-Mart, the lawsuit in 2011 concerned 1.5 million women who had been employed at Wal-Mart to seek back pay from as far back as 1998, citing gender discrimination. The largest civil rights case in history, the court voted 5-4 that women across the nation did not have enough in common to sue Wal-Mart for gender discrimination.
2. The issue of District of Columbia v. Heller was this: does DC’s prohibition of the possession of usable handguns in the home violate the second amendment? In a 5-4 ruling, it was a huge win for the pro-gun lobby when it was ruled that the Second Amendment allows individuals to keep guns in their homes.
3. In 2005, the Indiana Legislature passed a law that required all voters who cast a ballot to present a photo ID. Interest groups representing minority and elderly citizens argued that the law constituted an undue burden on the right to vote. The case, Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, had the court uphold the law in a 6-3 vote. Many are still upset at the decision, citing it as a thinly veiled attempt to dampen turnout by those likely to vote for Democratic candidates.
4. In a 5-4 vote, Gonales v. Carhart was the first of its kind—a ruling that upheld Congress’s Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. It prohibited abortions in the second trimester, and the court found it was not unconstitutional and did not impose an undue burden on the right to an abortion.
5. Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission was a 5-4 decision that ruled corporations were able to purchase ads to influence political elections. The decision overturned century-old precedent allowing the government to regulate such spending. As a direct result, Citizens United has changed the way companies and unions can spend on elections.