The Supremes' Greatest Hits: The 37 Supreme Court Cases That Most Directly Affect Your Life » (Revised & Updated)

Michael G. Trachtman is a founder and president of Powell, Trachtman, Logan, Carrle & Lombardo, P.C., a litigation and business practice law firm located in suburban Philadelphia, and the author of What Every Executive Better Know About the Law.

Does the government have the right to seize your house in order to build a shopping mall? Can it determine what you can do to your own body? How far can it go in regulating your use of the Internet? The answers to those questions come from the Supreme Court—and its rulings have shaped American life, justice, and culture. Here are 37 of the most significant issues the Court has grappled with—from equal rights to privacy rights, from the limits of speech to the boundaries between church and state. Many of these cases read like thrillers…right down to their cliff-hanging endings.