“Missouri!”

497 U.S. 261 (1990), upheld the constitutionality of a person's right to refuse life-sustaining medical treatment as long as clear and convincing evidence is presented that such refusal is desired by the person. In this particular case, the Court ruled that a comatose patient had not sufficiently conveyed her wishes and therefore that life-sustaining treatment must continue; but the Court allowed that when demonstrable evidence of a patient's wishes is given, life-sustaining treatment may be removed in the interest of preserving individual liberty and the quality of life.

252 U.S. 416 (1920), held that Congress may enact legislation to fulfill the terms of a treaty, even if such legislation otherwise constitutes an invasion of individual state sovereignty. The state of Missouri had sought to preserve exclusive authority over its game laws by enjoining U.S. game wardens from enforcing the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, which obligated Canada and the United States to protect certain migratory species. The Supreme Court disallowed the injunction, arguing that Congress must be able to act in the national interest, even if by means of unpopular legislation pursuant to an international treaty.

measure worked out between the North and the South and passed by the U.S. Congress that allowed for admission of Missouri as a slave state, Maine as a free state, and made free soil all western territories north of Missouri's southern border. It marked the beginning of the prolonged sectional conflict over the extension of slavery that led to the Civil War. It was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) and declared unconstitutional in the Dred Scott decision of 1857.