The Supreme Court

Major cases and membership, from September 2005 through 2026.

1.Which associate justice from the Court of September 2005 is still serving?
The Supreme Court building.Photo by Kjetil Ree, CC BY-SA 3.0.
A. Sandra Day O'Connor, who never left the seat she took in 1981.B. Antonin Scalia, who has continued to sit since his 1986 confirmation.C. Clarence Thomas, the only associate from that bench still on the Court.D. Stephen Breyer, who returned to active service after a short retirement.
2.Who took Sandra Day O'Connor's seat after the first nominee for it withdrew?
The United States Capitol.Photo by Martin Falbisoner, CC BY-SA 3.0.
A. Samuel Alito, confirmed in January 2006 after Harriet Miers withdrew.B. John Roberts, who was confirmed to her seat and still holds that seat.C. Harriet Miers, who was confirmed a month after she was nominated.D. Merrick Garland, who filled the seat by a recess appointment.
3.Whom did President Obama put on the Court, and whom did they replace?
The White House.Library of Congress. Public domain.
A. Sonia Sotomayor replaced John Paul Stevens, and Elena Kagan replaced Antonin Scalia.B. Elena Kagan replaced David Souter, and Merrick Garland replaced Stevens.C. Both nominations failed, and those two seats stayed empty until 2017.D. Sonia Sotomayor replaced David Souter, and Elena Kagan replaced John Paul Stevens.
4.What happened to Antonin Scalia's seat after he died in February 2016?
The Supreme Court from the front.Photo by Kurt Kaiser, CC0.
A. Merrick Garland was confirmed within two months, before the 2016 election.B. Garland was nominated, the Senate held no vote, and Neil Gorsuch was confirmed in 2017.C. The seat stayed empty until Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed in 2020.D. The president filled it by a recess appointment that ran past the following inauguration.
5.Who succeeded Anthony Kennedy after he retired in 2018?
The Capitol dome.Photo by Diliff, CC BY 2.5.
A. Neil Gorsuch, moving over from the seat he had taken in 2017.B. Merrick Garland, at the end of a confirmation that began in 2016.C. Brett Kavanaugh, who was confirmed by the Senate in October 2018.D. Amy Coney Barrett, confirmed that summer before Kennedy's farewell.
6.What followed the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in September 2020?
The Capitol, seen through a window.Photo by Crglenn, CC BY-SA 4.0.
A. Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed that October, before the presidential election.B. The Senate waited until after the election and then confirmed Judge Merrick Garland.C. The seat stayed empty for more than a year, as Scalia's seat had.D. Elena Kagan moved into the seat, and a new justice took Kagan's place.
7.Who succeeded Stephen Breyer after he retired?
The doors of the Supreme Court.Unknown photographer, CC0.
A. Leondra Kruger was confirmed in 2021 and took the center seat as chief.B. The Senate rejected the nominee, so Stephen Breyer stayed on the Court through 2025.C. The nominee received a recess appointment and never a confirmation vote.D. Ketanji Brown Jackson, confirmed in 2022, the first Black woman on the Court.
8.What did District of Columbia v. Heller hold in 2008?
A residential street in Washington.Photograph by Carol M. Highsmith. Public domain.
A. The Second Amendment protects only a formal militia, so the city's handgun ban survived.B. The amendment protects an individual right to keep a handgun at home for self-defense.C. The Court banned every gun law, including those about felons, courts, and dealers.D. The same case applied the amendment to the states and struck Chicago's handgun law.
9.What did Citizens United v. FEC decide about money and elections?
A television camera.Photo by ArildV, CC BY-SA 3.0.
A. Corporations may give unlimited sums directly to a federal candidate's campaign.B. The Court banned corporations and unions from spending any of their money on election speech.C. Firms and unions may fund independent election speech. Direct candidate gifts stayed capped.D. Foreign governments may fund U.S. campaigns, and disclosure rules were repealed.
10.What did the Court do with the Affordable Care Act in NFIB v. Sebelius (2012)?
A hospital.Photo by Warren LeMay, CC0.
A. The mandate survived as a tax, and existing Medicaid could not be cut off to force the expansion.B. It struck down the entire statute as beyond Congress's power to regulate commerce.C. It upheld every provision, including the threat to end all of the existing federal Medicaid funds.D. It declined the case and left the whole statute to be settled at the next election.
11.What did Shelby County v. Holder (2013) do to the Voting Rights Act?
A voting booth.Photo by Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC0.
A. It repealed the Act in full, including the nationwide ban on racial discrimination in voting.B. It required every state to get federal permission before any change to its voting rules.C. It held that race may be the main reason a state uses when it draws districts.D. It struck the formula that picked which places had to pre-clear voting changes.
12.What did Obergefell v. Hodges require in 2015?
A county courthouse.Photo by i_am_jim, CC BY-SA 3.0.
A. Only the federal government had to recognize the marriages. States could refuse licenses.B. Every state must license same-sex marriages and recognize those licensed by other states.C. The Court dismissed the couples and left marriage policy entirely to each state.D. Clergy must perform the ceremonies or lose the tax status of their congregations.
13.What did Burwell v. Hobby Lobby hold in 2014?
A store aisle.Photo by Nick-D, CC BY-SA 4.0.
A. Every business may ignore any federal law that conflicts with an owner's religion.B. For-profit companies have no claim under the federal religious-freedom statute.C. A closely held firm may use that statute against the contraceptive-coverage mandate.D. The mandate was enforced against those firms because they were not houses of worship.
14.What did Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decide in 2022?
The Mississippi State Capitol.Photo by Kaotate, CC BY-SA 4.0.
A. Roe and Casey were overruled, and abortion regulation returned to elected representatives.B. The Court itself banned abortion in every state in the country after six weeks of pregnancy.C. The Court reaffirmed Roe and struck down Mississippi's fifteen-week law.D. Only Congress may regulate abortion, and every state law on the subject is void.
15.What did New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen hold in 2022?
A street in New York.Unknown photographer. Public domain.
A. The Second Amendment protects guns only inside the home, so public carry may be banned.B. The Court overruled the 2008 handgun case and returned to a balancing test.C. States must issue a carry license to every applicant, including people under restraining orders.D. A law letting officials deny public carry for lack of a special reason is unconstitutional.
16.What did the Court hold in 2023 about race in admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina?
A university campus.Photo by John Newcomb, CC BY 3.0.
A. Every selective college must use a fixed racial preference to build a class.B. The race-based admissions programs at Harvard and North Carolina were unlawful.C. Only public universities were covered, so Harvard's program could continue.D. The programs survived because a diversity interest still justified using race as such.
17.What did Bostock v. Clayton County hold about employment discrimination?
An office workplace.Fortepan photograph, donor Kurutz Márton, CC BY-SA 3.0.
A. Public schools must let every student choose any sports team and any restroom.B. A private employer may fire someone for being gay if it states a moral reason.C. Firing a person for being gay or transgender is discrimination because of sex under Title VII.D. Only government employers are covered. A private firm may fire someone for sexual orientation.
18.What did Loper Bright v. Raimondo change about federal agencies in 2024?
A fishing boat.Photo by Maoileann, CC BY-SA 4.0.
A. Courts interpret ambiguous statutes themselves, rather than deferring to any reasonable agency view.B. The federal agencies were abolished, and only Congress itself may apply a statute to a particular case.C. The Court reaffirmed that a reasonable agency reading of an unclear law binds the courts.D. Civil juries, rather than judges, now decide what an ambiguous federal statute means.
19.What immunity from criminal prosecution did the Court recognize for a president in 2024?
The West Wing of the White House.Photo by Gerald Shields, CC BY-SA 4.0.
A. A sitting president may be prosecuted for every official act on the same terms as any private citizen.B. A former president is immune from prosecution for every act, official or private.C. Immunity covers campaign speech only. Official acts at the White House have none.D. Core powers are absolutely immune, other official acts presumptively immune, and private acts are not.
20.What did Trump v. Anderson hold about removing a presidential candidate from a state ballot?
The Colorado State Capitol.Photo by xiquinhosilva, CC BY 2.0.
A. The Court found that the candidate had engaged in insurrection and was therefore disqualified.B. A state may not use that clause on its own to keep a presidential candidate off the ballot.C. Any state court may remove a presidential candidate if it finds insurrection.D. The insurrection clause was repealed and now binds no candidate for any office.
21.What did United States v. Rahimi hold about disarming someone under a domestic-violence restraining order?
A federal courthouse.Photo by 83DegreesMedia, CC BY 2.0.
A. The Second Amendment forbids disarming anyone who has not been convicted of a felony.B. The Court overruled the public-carry case and brought back means-end balancing.C. That disarmament can be constitutional, and the history-and-tradition test remains.D. Every restraining order is void if it has any effect on gun possession.
22.What did Carpenter v. United States require for historical cell-phone location records?
A cell-phone tower.Photo by Cvmontuy, CC BY-SA 4.0.
A. A warrant in an ordinary case. The third-party rule did not automatically cover those records.B. Only a subpoena to the phone company, the same as for any ordinary business record.C. A warrant for every record any company keeps about a customer, with no exception left.D. The phone company's consent alone, because a customer has no privacy interest in location records.
23.What did Rucho v. Common Cause say federal courts may do about partisan gerrymandering?
The North Carolina State Capitol.Photo by Jim Bowen, CC BY 2.0.
A. They must strike down any congressional map that favors one party by more than some set percentage.B. They must redraw the districts themselves whenever one party files a complaint.C. They may hear partisan claims, but claims about racial gerrymandering are closed.D. They may not decide partisan-gerrymandering claims. Those maps are left to the political branches.
24.What did the Court do with the 2022 plan to cancel a large share of federal student-loan debt?
The Department of Education.Photo by G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0.
A. It upheld the plan as a lawful use of emergency authority over student loans.B. It held that the education secretary went beyond the statute he relied on.C. It held that the Constitution forbids Congress from ever canceling student debt.D. It refused the case because no one had standing, and the plan went into effect.
25.What did the Court decide in 2026 about children born here to parents who are here unlawfully or on a temporary stay?
The National Archives.Photo by David Samuel, CC BY-SA 3.0.
A. An executive order denying them citizenship at birth was upheld in full by the Court.B. Only a child with at least one citizen parent is a citizen at birth.C. Those children are subject to U.S. jurisdiction and are citizens at birth.D. The Court issued no ruling on citizenship and left the order in force.

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The Supreme Court

1.Which associate justice from the Court of September 2005 is still serving?

2.Who took Sandra Day O'Connor's seat after the first nominee for it withdrew?

3.Whom did President Obama put on the Court, and whom did they replace?

4.What happened to Antonin Scalia's seat after he died in February 2016?

5.Who succeeded Anthony Kennedy after he retired in 2018?

6.What followed the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in September 2020?

7.Who succeeded Stephen Breyer after he retired?

8.What did District of Columbia v. Heller hold in 2008?

9.What did Citizens United v. FEC decide about money and elections?

10.What did the Court do with the Affordable Care Act in NFIB v. Sebelius (2012)?

11.What did Shelby County v. Holder (2013) do to the Voting Rights Act?

12.What did Obergefell v. Hodges require in 2015?

13.What did Burwell v. Hobby Lobby hold in 2014?

14.What did Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decide in 2022?

15.What did New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen hold in 2022?

16.What did the Court hold in 2023 about race in admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina?

17.What did Bostock v. Clayton County hold about employment discrimination?

18.What did Loper Bright v. Raimondo change about federal agencies in 2024?

19.What immunity from criminal prosecution did the Court recognize for a president in 2024?

20.What did Trump v. Anderson hold about removing a presidential candidate from a state ballot?

21.What did United States v. Rahimi hold about disarming someone under a domestic-violence restraining order?

22.What did Carpenter v. United States require for historical cell-phone location records?

23.What did Rucho v. Common Cause say federal courts may do about partisan gerrymandering?

24.What did the Court do with the 2022 plan to cancel a large share of federal student-loan debt?

25.What did the Court decide in 2026 about children born here to parents who are here unlawfully or on a temporary stay?