Today in Supreme Court History: December 16, 1936

12/16/1936: West Coast Hotel v. Parrish argued.

Comments

[Dan Schiavetta]

Greene v. Georgia, 519 U.S. 145 (decided December 16, 1996): state Supreme Court on direct appeal does not have to defer to trial judge's findings as to juror bias (trial judge had excused for cause jurors who had reservations about the death penalty); such deference (set forth in Wainwright v. Witt, 1985) applies only in habeas proceedings (where at issue is matter outside the record -- questions which should have been asked, things that should have been done, evidence which should have been introduced, etc.)

Heimeshoff v. Hartford Life & Acc. Ins. Co., 571 U.S. 99 (decided December 16, 2013): suit on disability benefits plan is time-barred by plan's own limitations period even though administrative remedies not yet exhausted (ERISA is silent on the issue)

Robertson v. Gerdan, 132 U.S. 454 (decided December 16, 1889): ivory pieces to be attached to piano keys are subject to "ivory" tariff instead of "musical instrument" tariff. Note: This issue is now inconsequential due to the near-prohibition on ivory in an effort to protect elephant herds. I represented an instrument dealer in getting some vintage items exported. The regulatory scheme is perverse. First, ivory used in musical instruments is solely decorative (e.g., tips of violin bows), and the only instruments with it are vintage instruments for which no elephants have been shot in decades (nowadays plastic is used). The real culprits are dealers selling big items made from entire tusks, whereas ten thousand bow tips would be needed to result in the ruination of one tusk. Secondly, only certain types of ivory are prohibited. Not (for example) wart hog ivory or mammoth/mastodon ivory (!). The type of ivory is supposed to be determined by examining chevron patterns with a special microscope, but customs officials just seize anything they think looks like ivory. Orchestras have had international tours canceled because the bows of the string section were confiscated at the airport. (My client gave me a old bass bow, for free; it has an ivory screwpiece and is therefore unsellable. I am a basisst and it's a very good bow, but it would be just as good with a plastic screwpiece.)

[Commenter_XY]

captcrisis, I never knew you were a musician! Do you still play? Do you play in a band?

[Dan Schiavetta]

I took up music in school (I'm not from a musical family) and played cello, bass, then in college took up guitar and bass guitar. I've played in a string band that did square dances and in a blues band. Lately I've been playing cello and double bass in an amateur orchestra and a concert band. With my career as a lawyer in disastrous decline it's comforting to do something I'm good at which nobody can take away from me.

Thanks for asking!

[Commenter_XY]

captcrisis, I am glad you found something that gives you comfort and joy. That can never be taken away from you. That matters.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Are you a roundwound or flatwound fan, captcrisis?

I have had the same flatwounds on my Fender Musicmaster for at least 30 years, since I read Duck Dunn indicate something along the line that he had changed his strings twice in 40 or so years 'and the one time it was a big mistake.' Someone told me James Jamerson never changed his strings. One bass. One finger. Four strings. Period.

I use roundwounds on my Gretsch. Electric green roundwounds, recently.

I also use a thumbrest . . . have had one installed on every bass guitar I have ever owned. I didn't set out play with a thumbrest, but I didn't notice the Musicmaster (built by Fender for a Hall of Fame guitarist) had a thumbrest when I bought it more than 40 years ago, so I just started using it and now I can't play without one.

[Dan Schiavetta]

I have nickel flatwounds on my bass, which is a Guild Pilot 5-string fretless I bought in 1993. I use the side of the pickup as a thumb rest (I agree that one can't really play without one). Flatwounds last longer and are easier on the fingers. Sliding up and down with fretless flatwound approximates what can be done on a classical instrument like cello or bass. I've heard that the sound is duller but that can be fixed by twiddling some knobs, which is good enough for me.

On all my instruments I use the highest tension strings I can find. They're louder, last longer, and stay in tune better. You might be horrified to hear this but I string my acoustic (a Guild D-35) with D'Addario phosphor bronze HEAVY (not medium) gauge.

My son is getting his own bass amp which means I'm finally getting my Behringer back.

The orchestra I'm in is doing a Messiah concert today and I will be in the back on my 7/8 size double bass, with Spirocore Starks, blasting everyone else out of the room (that is, when the timpani and the trumpets aren't doing it).

[John F. Carr]

Stuffed birds have also suffered from regulation in the past century. Don't try to sell them.

I gather a typical pattern is old person dies and the taxidermy collection is part of the estate. It may well have been legally acquired. The birds may predate the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. But there are not enough records to satisfy a federal agent who gets every much of a thrill out of taking stuff as the worst local cops get from shooting dogs.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Um . . . thanks . . . is this something drawn from your own experience?

[John F. Carr]

I know somebody who inherited ancient stuffed birds. Knowing about the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and knowing that it is illegal to even pick up a fallen feather of some species of birds, I thought about the possible consequences. Those birds might be in the same legal status as bump stocks, once legal but no longer.

[Mr. Bumble]

The worst part is that these confiscated items usually wind up being destroyed, something government excels at.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Gibson guitars, I think, was in a kerfuffle with using some African wood which the African country had allowed to be harvested and exported. 5 years ago?

[Dan Schiavetta]

Yes, in fact my client was tangentially involved in that. I forget the particulars, but the Gibson people went into Madagascar to harvest rare wood. As my client put it, they were provoking the Obama Administration -- how could they not get caught? But the case against them was dismissed on a technicality. They then used the wood to make a special series of guitars with a we're-poking-a-stick-in-your-eye-Obama name. (Again, I forget the particulars.)

[Mr. Bumble]

More a case of the Obama administration poking Gibson in the eye because the owner contributed to the Tea Party.

[Syd Henderson]

So if I shoot a mammoth I can use its tusks! I bet you can find some really old pianos that use ivory and are hence unsellable.

[Mr. Bumble]

Good luck on shooting a mammoth.

[Syd Henderson]

Yep, they're beyond being endangered.

[Dan Schiavetta]

If poachers succeed in making elephants extinct, sale of the tusks will no longer be restricted.