Today in Supreme Court History: May 23, 1991

5/23/1991: Rust v. Sullivan is decided.

The Rehnquist Court (1991)

Comments

[Dan Schiavetta]

Rust v. Sullivan, 500 U.S. 173 (decided May 23, 1991): Congress can prohibit family planning agencies receiving federal funds from mentioning abortion either in their publications or in individual counseling (note: this was a plot point in the movie "Just Another Girl on the IRT", at the end of which the newborn, still crying, is put in a bag and left out with the trash)

Foster v. Chatman, 578 U.S. --- (decided May 23, 2016): Batson challenge as to using peremptory challenges to exclude the only black prospective jurors can be revived upon discovery of documents in prosecution files highlighting everyone in jury pool who was black

General Dynamics v. United States, 563 U.S. 478 (decided May 23, 2017): government and defense contractor stuck with contract despite cost overruns and dissatisfaction on both sides because litigating the contractor's defense that failure to perform was due to government refusal to share "superior knowledge" would necessarily involve disclosure of state secrets; suit by contractor in Court of Federal Claims dismissed

Johnson v. Zerbst: 304 U.S. 458 (decided May 23, 1938): whether defendant's waiver of right to counsel under Sixth Amendment was "intelligent" and "competent" is question for trial court (his inability to actually afford a lawyer presumably would be a valid reason for waiver; this was before Gideon v. Wainwright)

Clingman v. Beaver, 544 U.S. 581 (decided May 23, 2005): restricting primary election to registered party members did not violate First Amendment "freedom of association"

Sanger v. Nightingale, 122 U.S. 176 (decided May 23, 1887): A suit alleging a fraudulent mortgage, involving the effect of a statute of limitations requiring pre-1865 claims to be brought by 1870. Interesting because one of the issues was the valuation of 120 slaves on the estate as mortgaged in 1855 who were lost due to emancipation.

Budinich v. Becton Dickinson & Co., 486 U.S. 196 (decided May 23, 1988): adjudication of state law claim on merits is appealable "final judgment" under 28 U.S.C. §1291 despite remaining issue of attorney fee award even if under state law fees are part of the judgment

United States v. Wong, 431 U.S. 174 (decided May 23, 1977): defendant prosecuted for committing perjury in front of grand jury not entitled to suppression of false statement despite not having been informed of right to remain silent

[John F. Carr]

Nine minutes to come up with eight cases. Like rust, captcrisis never sleeps.

Also,

I see a woman in the night
With a baby in her hand
There's an old street light
Near a garbage can

[Dan Schiavetta]

Good catch. Though the girl’s problem in “IRT” wasn’t drugs but obvious unreadiness for being a mother. The ending — where her boyfriend (not the bio father) rescues the baby from the trash and she ends up being a happy mother, is unrealistic and too pat. Even for a high school girl she was an unstable mess. Given that sex at her age in that time and place was probably inevitable, she needed sex education and ready counseling on contraceptives, badly.

[Krychek_2]

Ever notice how a lot of the same people who want to ban abortion also want to ban sex ed and ready access to contraceptives? They're against things that would actually reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and thus the number of abortions.

[John F. Carr]

Years ago my blue state sent a note to school nurses telling them that a girl under 16 discussing contraception was probably a child sex abuse victim and needed to be reported to authorities. We have a mandatory reporter law and we do not have a "Romeo and Juliet" exception to statutory rape. In the name of protecting children the state created a strong incentive for them not to seek help.

[Dan Schiavetta]

That is horrible.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Krychek 2

Outlawing abortion, without taking measures to minimize unwanted pregnancies, is (to say the very least) irresponsible.

[Jimmy the Dane]

Using leftist logic - "teach men not to rape!!!"

Maybe we just - "teach women not to be hoes!!!!"

[John F. Carr]

If you want an ending with an unhappy childbirth, _Threads_ has a good one. It was a BBC nuclear war drama, not as bright and cheery as the previous year's American nuclear war drama _The Day After_.

[Dan Schiavetta]

I didn't see "Threads", but what stayed with me most with "The Day After" was the scene of the woman delivering her baby, in anguish knowing what kind of world her baby is being born into. It was a horrible scene.

[Jimmy the Dane]

Would be interesting to see that then baby as a now adult and ask them what they think about the fact they almost ended up in a medical waste tub....

[John F. Carr]

Loudon Wainwright III wrote a song about nearly aborting daughter Martha. There is probably an interview with her about it.