The short tenure of the Vinson Court gave it relatively little time to render major rulings, but decisions of the court include: •
Everson v. Board of Education (1947): In a 5–4 decision written by Justice Black, the court upheld a New Jersey law that provided for transportation reimbursement for children attending private schools. The court unanimously
incorporated the
Establishment Clause via
the Fourteenth Amendment, but the majority held that the New Jersey law did not violate the Establishment Clause because the reimbursements were provided to all parents regardless of religion. •
Shelley v. Kraemer (1948): In a 6–0 decision written by Chief Justice Vinson, the court struck down a racially
restrictive covenant which had prevented
people of color from purchasing a house in
St. Louis, Missouri. The court held that such covenants cannot be enforced by courts of law since doing so would violate the
Equal Protection Clause. •
McCollum v. Board of Education (1948): In an 8–1 decision written by Justice Black, the court struck down an Illinois program that used public school classrooms to teach voluntary religion classes during school hours. The court held that the classes violated the Establishment Clause. •
United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. (1948): In a 7–1 opinion written by Justice Douglas, the court forced the
Big Eight film studios to sell their movie theaters in order to comply with the
Sherman Antitrust Act. The decision curtailed the
vertical integration of the film studios, as well as the practice of
block booking. •
Dennis v. United States (1951): In a plurality decision written by Justice Vinson, the court upheld the
conviction of
Eugene Dennis, a Communist Party leader, under the
Smith Act. The court held that the
First Amendment does not protect activities that seek to overthrow the United States government.
Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) largely overruled this holding. •
Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson (1952): In a 9–0 decision written by Justice Clark, the court ruled that motion pictures qualify as
art and thus receive some protections from the First Amendment in the face of government
censorship. The decision overturned
Mutual Film Corp. v. Industrial Commission of Ohio (1915). Later cases expanded on
Burstyn to the point that the government can only censor films for
obscenity. •
Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952): In a 6–3 decision written by Justice Black and in which five justices wrote concurrences, the court ordered President Truman to return control of several steel mills to their owners. Truman had taken control of the mills after the
1952 steel strike, which presented a threat to the American effort in the
Korean War. The large number of concurrences made the precedential value of the ruling unclear, but the ruling nonetheless checked the
executive power of the president. Justice Jackson's
concurring opinion laid out three categories of executive power and made a lasting impact in the understanding of
separation of powers. •
United States v. Reynolds (1953): In a 6–3 decision written by Chief Justice Vinson, the court recognized the
state secrets privilege. The decision allowed the government to avoid releasing papers related to the
1948 Waycross B-29 crash. ==Judicial philosophy==