Today in Supreme Court History: June 14, 1810

6/14/1810: Justice Ward Hunt's birthday.

Justice Ward Hunt

Comments

[Dan Schiavetta]

West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (decided June 14, 1943): explicitly overruled Minersville v. Gobitis, 1940, and held that refusal to salute flag as part of regular school day was protected by First and Fourteenth Amendments

Taylor v. Mississippi, 319 U.S. 583 (decided June 14, 1943): companion case to Barnette, holding that speech urging that the flag not be saluted is protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments

Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, 542 U.S. 1 (decided June 14, 2004): atheist father did not have standing to challenge school requiring daughter to say "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance as violating First Amendment (mother had a different view and even a lot of liberals criticized the father for putting his daughter into the center of a publicized Constitutional as well as family dispute)

Greer v. United States, 593 U.S. --- (decided June 14, 2021): jury instruction that conviction for possession of firearm while a convicted felon required a showing that the defendant knew he had felony convictions not necessary in this case because with a multiple felony record defendant could be presumed to have known it

Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky, 585 U.S. --- (decided June 14, 2018): ban on entering a polling place while wearing a political message violated First Amendment (here, a "Don't Tread on Me" shirt)

Palmer v. Thompson, 403 U.S. 217 (decided June 14, 1971): no Equal Protection violation when city after being ordered to desegregate public swimming pools instead closed them (I used to live in a Southern town which did that, but it had only one pool and it was whites only; this city had a pool for blacks which got closed along with the whites-only pools)

McDonald v. Pless, 238 U.S. 264 (decided June 14, 1915): denied motion to set aside verdict by applying the common law rule that a juror cannot testify as to misconduct in the jury room (here, an impermissible quotient verdict) (that's not the rule in New York, at least not now, though one can't question a juror post-verdict without a good reason)

W. v. Gibson, 527 U.S. 212 (decided June 14, 1999): upholding amendment to Title VII allowing the EEOC to award compensatory damages instead of just back pay

[Syd Henderson]

Has Josh already done West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette? It's weird he would miss such an obvious case for an obscure Justice's birthday.

Hunt had a stroke five years into his term but hung on so he could get his pension which at the time required ten years service. Congress voted to give him his pension early. He was on the court 1873-1882, so it only saved about a year. He also was a member of Roscoe Conkling's circle.

[F.D. Wolf]

Hunt's stroke in January 1879 left him paralyzed and unable to speak. Though technically still a member of the Court for another three years, he never again participated in Court proceedings after his stroke. It was Senator (and former Justice) David Davis of Illinois who introduced the bill that allowed Hunt to retire at full salary, provided he retire within 30 days, which he did.

[John F. Carr]

From _Palmer v. Thompson_: "Petitioners have also argued that respondents' action violates the Equal Protection Clause because the decision to close the pools was motivated by a desire to avoid integration of the races. But no case in this Court has held that a legislative act may violate equal protection solely because of the motivations of the men who voted for it."

I live in a suburb with no public pools and a good number of personal pools.

As for jury questioning, my state is very hostile to it but has understood the U.S. Supreme Court to require an exception when there is an accusation of racial misconduct.