Today in Supreme Court History: July 4, 1776

7/4/1776: Declaration of Independence is signed.

Stone Engraving of the Declaration of Independence

Comments

[Dan Schiavetta]

In re Lewis, 418 U.S. 1301 (decided July 4, 1974): Douglas releases Will Lewis, San Francisco radio station manager, who had been jailed for contempt and spent 19 days in solitary confinement; Lewis had given recordings (from the Weather Underground relative to a shootout with the police by the Symbionese Liberation Army) to the FBI but refused to deliver the originals; Douglas cites First Amendment concerns, pending decision on appeal (which Lewis lost, 501 F.2d 418, and decided to finally hand them over); Lewis had a long career and retired in 2010 (this is the only case I could find for July 4; I owe it to William O. Douglas, normally not a hard worker, who decided to ruin his Independence Day — and that of his clerks — for a cause close to his heart) (Happy Independence Day to all!)

[Magister]

I looked back at January 1 and December 25, 26, 31; also only a single case in each. Easier with holidays that move around.

The signing of the Declaration of Independence is at least an important event, if only indirectly to the Supreme Court, unlike the birthdays, appointments and retirements of obscure Justices that Blackman so often resorts to.

[Dan Schiavetta]

The “January 1” cases (there are a number of them, including the one I put up) are suspect because in the early days a decision issued during a particular term is often listed as being issued on the 1st day of the name of that term. For example, a case issued during the “October 1802 term” is listed as October 1, 1802, which is obviously not the date of publication.

[F.D. Wolf]

From the UPI in the June 20, 1974, edition of the Desert Sun newspaper:

Lewis Jailed For Contempt

LOS ANGELES (UPI) - The general manager of radio station KPFK was jailed for contempt of court Wednesday because he refused to give the FBI the original of a tape-recorded message from Patricia Hearst and two other Symbionese Liberation Army fugitives. Will Lewis, 42, was led from U.S. District Court in handcuffs at the end of a 55-minule hearing called to give him a chance to change his mind and avoid jail. But Lewis did not change his mind, citing constitutional guarantees of freedom of the press for his stand. He was found in contempt for refusing to cooperate with a federal grand jury investigation of the SLA and other underground terrorists. Lewis, who refused either to turn over evidence or answer questions before the grand jury, could remain behind bars until the grand jury’s term expires, which is scheduled for September but could be extended by up to a year. The key issue in the dispute is whether newsmen can protect news sources if no promise of confidentiality was made to obtain information. The last communication from Miss Hearst, and Emily and William Harris, was a taped message left under a mattress behind the radio station June 7. An anonymous telephone caller told station personnel it was there. “There’s no confidentiality here, none whatsoever,” said U.S. District Court Judge A. Andrew Hauk in sending Lewis to jail. “There’s been no promise, no agreement by anyone at Pacifica to keep information confidential.” (The nonprofit Pacifica Foundation runs KPFK and its sister station in San Francisco, KPFA, which is frequently chosen by underground or radical groups with messages to deliver.)

Lewis argued there was an implied promise of confidentiality, even to an unknown source, and that if the station surrendered the materials, it “would then have the reputation in the community as a station that automatically cooperates with the FBI.” The station has provided the FBI with copies of the tape, which had been broadcast in its entirety anyway. It balked at handing over the original tape itself, together with wrappers or any other "paraphernalia” found with it. The FBI wants to examine the originals for clues, such as fingerprints or technical indicators of where and when the tapes were made or handled. Lewis also refused to hand over the original of a letter from the “Weather Underground,” taking responsibility for bombing the state attorney general’s office here May 31 as a gesture of support for the SLA.

I, like many people, am fascinated by the Patricia Hearst kidnapping case. I might recommend the 2018 six-part CNN documentary The Radical Story of Patty Hearst which I watched in one sitting. It is currently available on HBO's Max streaming service as well as the Pluto TV free streaming service.

Patty Hearst
Heard the burst
Of Roland's Thompson gun
And bought it.

[Dan Schiavetta]

I remember that whole affair very well. Mainly the fact that I followed radical politics closely and had never heard of the “Symbionese Liberation Army” before. At first I thought it was a joke.

There were a number of cases of heiresses getting kidnapped (most horrifyingly, Barbara Mackie — how did she not go crazy?). Patty Hearst was different though. IIRC her “revolutionary” name was Tanya.

[F.D. Wolf]

Interesting times.

Happy Independence Day!

[Frank Drackman]

A birthday party??? for me???? Everyone's invited!

[Martinned]

7/4/1776: Declaration of Independence is signed.

Was it, though?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signing_of_the_United_States_Declaration_of_Independence

[Mr. Bumble]

Martinned- conspiracy theorist.

[Martinned]

Not really.

Most historians have concluded that it was signed on August 2, 1776, nearly a month after its adoption, and not on July 4 as is commonly believed.

[Frank Drackman]

"Most Historians" were they there?? I'll take Tommy J, Benny F, and John Adams (so boring his Secret Service Code Name was "John Adams") word
Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams all wrote that it was signed by Congress on the day when it was adopted on July 4, 1776.[1] That assertion is seemingly confirmed by the signed copy of the Declaration, which is dated July 4. Additional support for the July 4 date is provided by the Journals of the Continental Congress, the official public record of the Continental Congress. The proceedings for 1776 were first published in 1777, and the entry for July 4 states that the Declaration was engrossed and signed on that date (the official copy was handwritten by Timothy Matlack).[2]

Frank

[Mr. Bumble]

Like 97% of "most historians"?

Don't believe the statements of those that were there. How can you believe what dead white guys wrote.

[Magister]

You never backdated a check that was "in the mail"? Dead white guys were disputing the July 4th date in the 18th century.

A real conspiracy theory? An apprentice of Benjamin Franklin invented a steam-powered autopen which signed for wavering delegates, who later had to accept it at a fait accompli and carry through on the American Revolution.

[Frank Drackman]

Dammit, I want one of those Steam-powered Autopens!!!!!!!

[Magister]

You want those Steam-powered Autopens? You can't handle those Steam-powered Autopens!

[Magister]

Anyway, the last steam-powered autopen exploded in 1804, killing Alexander Hamilton (which was blamed on Aaron Burr to conceal the past use of such an accursed device). Rumors of this debacle later motivated the Astronomer Royal to oppose Charles Babbage's attempted development of steam-powered computing machines.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

At last the truths about all these puzzling incidents have been tied together!

Thank you, kind sir.

[Mr. Bumble]

When will Nicolas Cage be doing the movie?

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

s/movie/documentary/

[Magister]

I'm totally suing if National Treasure 3 has a steam-powered autopen.

[Martinned]

Well, since some of the people whose signatures are under the Declaration were verifiably not there on July 4, why not both?

[Syd Henderson]

I think some people signed it on July 4 but most of them signed it later. John Hancock may well have signed it on July 4 since he was President of Congress.

[Armchair Lawyer]

Who you gonna believe> A "bunch of historians"? Or John Adams, Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson....

[Dan Schiavetta]

“No such tranquil scene such as is depicted here ever took place! May I remind you, sir, that we were at war! The delegates were scurrying in and out of Philadelphia all summer long and affixed their signatures to Mr. Jefferson’s — hallowed parchment — whenever they happened to be in town!”

— John Adams (played by Paul Giamatti) dressing down John Trumbull’s famous painting

[Frank Drackman]

Great Series, I was skeptical about "Pig Virus" from Howard Stern's Private Parts playing a Founding Father, but he was great.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Finally we agree on something.

[Mr. Bumble]

Now do "1776 The Musical".

[Dan Schiavetta]

Also a fine piece of work. Some inaccuracies but nothing misleading.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Om julw 3, john adams wrote to abigail that july 2 would be celebrated.

[Mr. Bumble]

So the document in the National Archives is a fake or there was a printer's error when the original was lithographed?

[Mr. Bumble]

In any event, Happy Independence Day whether you think it is July, 2; July 4; or August,2.

And of course Happy Birthday to the kinder, gentler Frank Drackman.

[Frank Drackman]

Thanks (Man!) only 139 to go until the Bicentennial!

[Martinned]

4 July is when it was adopted and ordered to be printed.

[David Nieporent]

Of course it's fake; Nicolas Cage stole the real one.

[ducksalad]

OK, just to be safe I am willing to celebrate again on August 2.

[Magister]

Regardless of the date you want to celebrate, please hold the fireworks until later if like me you're in an area with drought and high fire risk.

[Mr. Bumble]

Ahhh, fond memories of launching cherry bombs, with a wrist rocket, over the woods behind my grandfathers house.
Thankful I still have both eyes and all my fingers.

[The Turtle Dove]

Of course, at the time, it was Privy Council history. Bit like hearing the first shots of the Thirty Years' War.

Mr. D.

[Kazinski]

The first shots of the thirty years war were two Austrians being thrown out of a window.

[The Turtle Dove]

Despite all the talk, defenestration isn't easily accomplished in Central Europe. Winter kingdoms with double glazings.

Mr. D.

[John F. Carr]

This year it's liberals who hope to declare their independence from the Supreme Court.

One scammy political fundraising email offered me the hope that Donald Trump would appoint nine justices if only I clicked the red button to donate to the cause. I expect somebody else got an email offering the fear that Donald Trump would appoint nine justices unless she clicked the blue button to donate to the cause.

[Magister]

Well, we can check the Declaration against the current SCOTUS:

"The history of the present [SCOTUS] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny." - partisan decision making.

"Refused [its] Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good"? Shelby County.

Refusing "the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only"? Every gerrymander endorsed by the Supreme Court.

"endeavoured to prevent the population of these States"? Upholding Trump's Muslim ban.

"obstructed the Administration of Justice" no ethics rules for SCOTUS, not even following the law on reporting.

"made Judges dependent on his Will alone"? We'll see if Congress can impose some ethics rules, of if Roberts can continue to block such rules.

That's five out of the first ten "Facts ... submitted to a candid world". I didn't even get to "abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments" manifested in trampling over past decisions.

[Dan Schiavetta]

an inside the park home run!

[ChrisC]

I felt the same way during the Warren court, but now I don't.

[Frank Drackman]

Pretty Weak "Moose-Lum" Ban as it only "Banned" Moose-lums from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Thats right OBL as a Saudi Citizen living in Pock-E-Ston could have waltzed right through Customs (if he wasn't Dead). Oh yeah, the "Moose-lum Ban" also included those Hard Line Moose-lum (love typing "Moose-lum") Countries of Venezuela and North Korea...

Frank

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

This year it’s liberals who hope to declare their independence from the Supreme Court.

Better Americans do not seek independence from the Supreme Court. They seek -- and will have -- improvement of the Supreme Court.

Carry on, clingers. So far as bigotry and backwardness could carry anyone in modern America, and solely so far as your betters permit.

[Frank Drackman]

C'mon (Man!) on our Nation's (and mine!) Birthday you can't put aside your Quiver of Arrows and enjoy a Brew, a Brat, a Broad (Hey Now!!)
This is Kinder/Gentler Frank talking,,,(Was pretty much told if I didn't get Kinder/Gentler I'd be Banished/Gone Frank)
Lets "Bring it in" (When did Ath-uh-letic Coaches start saying "Let's bring it in??" all I remember is watching from Right Field (I didn't suck, I was left handed!, I also pitched and played First) when I finally got there the "Bring it in" was done...
C'mon man, Hug it out! Kinder/Gentler Frank, the "Reverend" Jerry, I mean "Arthur"....
Umm, I said "Hug it out"..what are you doing!?!?!?!??!?!?

Frank

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Don't worry, Mr. Drackman . . . this blog's management will never do anything to you for using vile racial slurs, disgusting homophobic slurs, obsolete misogynistic slurs, knuckle-dragging xenophobic slurs, repulsive antisemitic slurs, or low-grade Islamophobic slurs, or for any other expression of your old-timey, right-wing bigotry. The record on this point is vivid and unmistakably in your favor.

Other than, perhaps, quietly applaud.

Watch what you say about conservatives around here, though . . .

[Mr. Bumble]

Click on the link below for a full list of worldwide ethnic slurs as provided by wikipedia:

ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs

[Lee Moore]

Shameless celebration of insurrection

[Dan Schiavetta]

Wrong term. It was a rebellion.

[Mr. Bumble]

I thought it was a revolution.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

I read an ingenious squaring of that circle. See, there were 13 colonies, all of which had had internal rebellions against their royal governors, and only afterwards did they unite in a single war of independence.

Lawyers aren't the only quibblers.

[Dan Schiavetta]

No, it was not that, either. Most of the colonies did not have internal rebellions, except insofar as they were proxy rebellions against the King, of whom the governors were mere toadies.

It was not like the Civil War (where a part of a country that was represented in the federal government pulled its Senators and Representatives and formed a new government), or like January 6 (where a sitting President and a good number of Representatives tried to prevent a lawful transfer of power within a government they were a part of), or like the French Revolution (where people who had not been part of a government of the country they were living in took over and imposed a new government). It was a rebellion by external colonies which were not part of the polity of the home country and had no representation there (in fact that was one of their main complaints). These distinctions are important, because they determine the reasons given for the separation, how the mechanics of it were to be achieved, and contemplations as to what would follow.

[Lee Moore]

“Except insofar as they were proxy rebellions against the King of whom the governors were mere toadies.”

Que ? The King’s “toadies” = The King’s lawfully authorised governing agents.

[Dan Schiavetta]

With no independent authority. What the King wanted, they wanted. What the King didn’t want, they didn’t want.

[Lee Moore]

And that somehow makes it less rebellious ?

I do get your point that not all rebellions are precisely alike. Ditto baseball games and Christmas cards. But whatever categories you are trying to divide them into, and why, I have no clue.

For example, this :

It was a rebellion by external colonies which were not part of the polity of the home country and had no representation there (in fact that was one of their main complaints).

seems to be saying no more than "this was a totally different type of ball game because there were four runs scored in the top of the 6th." Well, OK, but why would this make it a fundamentally different type of rebellion ?

Compare say with Ireland, and its ultimately successful attempt to shake off the British Crown. Ireland was part of the British polity. But it wanted out. Ireland had representation but just not enough to get what they wanted representatively.

So it had a rebellion. (In fact several unsuccessful ones before the successful one.) Why would you think the Irish rebellion was completely unlike the American one ?

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Yeh, quite a stretch.

The comparison with Jan 6 was amazing too, as if to say the rioters were more dangerous to the US government than the "proxy" rebellions were to King George III.

[Dan Schiavetta]

The distinction means a great deal when people actually think the Second Amendment provides a safeguard against tyranny. They’re confusing the American Revolution (rebellion by colonies which are not part of the polity) with the establishment of self government in 1787 (which provides for security against internal disturbances).

[Frank Drackman]

The "Several" Colonies in 1776 were less under the thumb of George III than the current Colonies are under Joseph I, not that I'm advocating a violent overthrow of the present (Occupational) Government, that'd be a Federal Crime worthy of time in Federal-Fuck-Me-in-the-Ass-Prison, I'm for a "Peaceful" (that looks bad, like I don't really want it to be "Peaceful") change, at the Ballot Box...

Frank "Kinder/Gentler enough for you??"

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

I meant my comment as humor more than anything, but it seems to have struck a nerve. Are you seriously saying that because the colonies had no representation in the UK parliament, they could not have rebelled against the royal governors?

Well nuts to that. They may not have had political representation in the UK, but they sure did have it in each colony. There were variously named legislatures, with elections in some chambers.

And the governors were not proxies. They had real power, directing armies, dissolving legislatures, arresting people, confiscating gunpowder and weapons, seizing homes and farms.

No, if I have understood your argument correctly, you are dead wrong, and they were real rebellions against real power even by your own pedantic quibble.

[Lee Moore]

OK, I'll bite. Distinguish what dictionary.com cannot :

insurrection : “an act or instance of rising in revolt, rebellion, or resistance against civil authority or an established government.”

rebellion : “open, organized, and armed resistance to one's government or ruler.”

[Frank Drackman]

"January 6th" is literally referenced in the First (and only) sentence of the First Amendment...
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances"
And if it's ill-legal to arrest some Drug Addict, Felonious Domestic Abuser for passing Counterfeit Bills, who just happens to die with lethal levels of Fent-a-nol in his system, it should be Ill-legal for some Rent-a-Cop-Affirmative-Action (RIP) Capitol Cop to murder an unarmed Female Veteran in cold blood (Yeah, he shot an unarmed Woman, Yay Affirmative Action!!)
Oops, that doesn't sound "Kind" or "Gentle", sometimes the Constitution be that way,

Frank

[Mr. Bumble]

Breaking News:

Women's champion Miki Sudo romped to victory by wolfing down 39.5 hot dogs in 10 minutes, six more than her nearest rival
Favorite Joey Chestnut will be hoping to beat his record of 76 hot dogs in 10 minutes as he vies for his sixteenth title

Apparently there have been no trans entrants in this year's competition.

[Frank Drackman]

I love this event and hate this event,
Love Hotdogs, Love Nathan's Hotdogs (not Kosher? why?? like them better than Hebrew National)
but eating them so fast (and the whole "smash the hotdog, swallow whole, repeat" is just cheating, you should have to eat it like a regular hotdog) is just demeaning of the whole hotdog experience, it's like trying to Jerk off when your mom's coming back any second...even if you succeed, did you really win???

Frank

[Mr. Bumble]

Update:

Joey Chestnuts wins rain delayed men's contest downing 62, well off his record of 76.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Profs. Barnett and Blackman have yet to address, so far as I am aware, the point for which captcrisis was awarded a Noble Prize (for identifying error in Today In Supreme Court History) several years ago.

Georgetown deserves better. South Texas School Of Law Houston . . . probably not.