Today in Supreme Court History: September 18, 1857

9/18/1857: Justice John Hessin Clarke's birthday.

Justice John Hessin Clarke

Comments

[Dan Schiavetta]

Matter of Disbarment of Donald D. Nash, 473 U.S. 931 (decided September 18, 1985). He had been convicted of Class A sodomy. He later applied for reinstatement; the Oregon decision denying reinstatement has an extensive and graphic depiction of his treatment for pedophilia, 885 P.2d 1112 (1993). He had had sex with the 6-year-old daughter of a client. The psychiatrist at the reinstatement hearing noted that Mr. Nash was married to a woman 20 years his junior who was "unlikely to be at his maturity level". The Dr. recommended that he return to practice but be prohibited from taking on clients who had little daughters. The court did not buy it. As of today he is still disbarred.

Matter of Disbarment of John Cody, 473 U.S. 930 (decided September 18, 1985): This man, John Donald Cody, has such an extensive history that he is on wikipedia. After being caught stealing client funds, he disappeared, stole another's identity, and incorporated a charity supposedly for Navy veterans (actually it was a charity for himself). He got onto the VA's referral list and was photographed with George W. Bush, John Boehner, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani (no surprise there) and Karl Rove. They finally caught him in 2012 and he's in prison for life.

[Syd Henderson]

Nash was sentenced to five year's probation. I was expecting a lot harsher punishment. (Not to be confused with a contract killer named Donald Nash who killed for hire two victims in 1982 and later murdered a man in prison.)

[Eric VonSalzen]

Have you ever included Justice Alfred Moore in this series? If so, I've missed it. I live in Moore County, NC, and seem to be one of the few residents who know that our county is named for a Supreme Court Justice. However, he seems not to have had a particularly stellar career on the Supreme Court bench. Per Wikipedia:
On December 4, 1799, President John Adams nominated Moore as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court,[6] to succeed James Iredell.[5] He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on December 10, 1799,[6] and was sworn into office on April 21, 1800.[1]
He served until his resignation on January 26, 1804.[1] Due to poor health, Moore's contribution to the court was abbreviated. In his four years of service, he wrote only one opinion, Bas v. Tingy, upholding a conclusion that France was an enemy in the undeclared Quasi-War of 1798–1799. Moore's scant contribution has led Court observers to place him on lists of the worst justices in the history of the Court.[7][8]

By the way, I could name several justices who did worse than deciding one case, and that one correctly.

[Alpheus W Drinkwater]

The county was apparently founded and named after Moore in 1784, before there even was a Supreme Court. I suppose he was the prominent citizen of the area, he had been an officer in the Continental Army. According to Wikipedia, he was the NC Attorney General at the time of the county's founding.

[Syd Henderson]

He also had his plantation burned by Cornwallis. He fought in a couple of substantial battles during his two years in the Continental Army but I don't know that he distinguished himself.

[John F. Carr]

He pleaded guilty. Plea bargains are common when minor victims are involved.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Still seems like a slap on the wrist.

Either the evidence against him was not that strong, or this was a wimpy D.A., or maybe he had "connections".