Today in Supreme Court History: July 6, 1835

7/6/1835: Chief Justice John Marshall dies.

Chief Justice John Marshall

 

Comments

[Dan Schiavetta]

South Dakota v. Opperman, 428 U.S. 364 (decided July 6, 1976): no warrant needed to search car impounded because illegally parked; cars are not “houses” (Fourth Amendment) and diminished expectation of privacy; marijuana found during permissible “inventory”

Chiafalo v. Washington, 591 U.S. — (decided July 6, 2020): a state can fine a “faithless elector” who does not vote according to the instructions laid down by the state legislature (State of Washington went for Hillary Clinton, but three of its electors voted for Colin Powell, hoping to sway Trump electors to do likewise and deny Trump a majority in the Electoral College; a total of seven electors were “faithless” that year)

Barr v. American Ass’n of Political Consultants, 591 U.S. — (decided July 6, 2020): debt collection exception to “do not call” law (ha!! what the hell happened to that??) did not violate First Amendment as favoring debt collection speech over still-prohibited political (robocall) speech (damn all robocalls to Hell)

Arizona Governing Comm’n for Tax Deferred Annuity Plans v. Norris, 463 U.S. 1073 (decided July 6, 1983): deferred compensation pension plan to state employees did not violate Title VII even though it helped men more (they greatly outnumbered female employees in the early years due to admitted discrimination) but would have to be even handed going forward

​Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032 (decided July 6, 1983): “protective search” of car for weapons during investigative stop was reasonable under Fourth Amendment without warrant (driver, “under the influence”, wandering outside car when police arrived, saw “large hunting knife” on floor, something sticking out from under armrest, entered vehicle and found marijuana under it)

Barclay v. Florida, 463 U.S. 939 (decided July 6, 1983): trial judge finding of past record as “aggravating circumstance” justifying execution, improper under Florida law, not reviewable by Court because capital punishment is not unconstitutional

Cantor v. Detroit Edison Co., 428 U.S. 579 (decided July 6, 1976): antitrust immunity of State (Parker v. Brown, 1943) extends to private action directed by State (druggist selling light bulbs could not sue utility which provided free light bulbs as part of its approved rate structure)

Barefoot v. Estelle, 463 U.S. 880 (decided July 6, 1983): OK to admit psychiatric testimony as to possible future dangerousness when evaluating habeas corpus (the APA opposed such testimony and I can understand why; I used to work in a mental health department and we would hate having to fill out that part of the form — as the psych on our unit would say, “They think we have a crystal ball!” — because we’d get blamed if something went wrong — and the guy who ran the group home some of our clients lived in was the father of one of those killed by a Black Panther Leonard Bernstein held a party for — look it up) (superseded by Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996)

California v. Ramos, 463 U.S. 993 (decided July 6, 1983): jury determining possible life sentence without possibility of parole can be given the “Briggs instruction” (mention that the governor can commute sentence to possibility of parole) even though it more likely results in without-parole sentence

Buffalo Forge Co. v. United Steelworkers, 428 U.S. 397 (decided July 6, 1976): federal court must defer to arbitrator on whether to enjoin a “sympathy strike” (steelworkers supporting clerical workers in same plant) (arbitrator was deciding whether the no-strike clause in steelworker contract had been violated) (in those days when one drove along Route 5 west of Buffalo one could see the fires of mile upon mile of steel plants; within 20 years they were all gone)

[SMP0328]

Chiafalo v. Washington, 591 U.S. — (decided July 6, 2020): a state can fine a “faithless elector” who does not vote according to the instructions laid down by the state legislature (State of Washington went for Hillary Clinton, but three of its electors voted for Colin Powell, hoping to sway Trump electors to do likewise and deny Trump a majority in the Electoral College; a total of seven electors were “faithless” that year)

Don't forget the one Washington State elector who voted for Faith Spotted Eagle. First time a Native American received an electoral vote.

[Dilan Esper]

You left out the most important part of Long, which was its adequate and independent state ground holding.

[Dan Schiavetta]

I didn’t put that in because 1) the Court has made that point before, and 2) it was dicta, because there was no independent state ground issue. The state court had based its decision on federal law.

[Dan Schiavetta]

I found the case that made me think the Court has made this point already: Lawrence v. State Tax Comm’n of Mississippi, 286 U.S. 276 (1932), which I summarized on May 16: a state supreme court court can’t evade United States Supreme Court review by basing its decision on state law grounds that are insubstantial and illusory after a party has properly raised a federal issue

[Dilan Esper]

Long is the case everyone always cites. And in practice it's the case where SCOTUS first gave bite to the notion that it would aggressively review state cases unless the lower court was clear.

[Dan Schiavetta]

O.K.

I also see that the syllabus mentions that as the main holding (though I never read the syllabus; I just read the opinions and give my impressions).

[The Margrave of Azilia]

"(druggist selling light bulbs could not sue utility which provided free light bulbs as part of its approved rate structure)"

How many lawyers does it take to change a light bulb?

[apedad]

Re: California v. Ramos

In California v. Ramos, 463 U.S. 992, 103 S.Ct. 3446, 77 L.Ed.2d 1171 (1983), the (Supreme) Court upheld as constitutional a California law requiring that a jury in a capital case be instructed of the governor's power to commute a sentence of life without the possibility of parole (the “Briggs instruction”).

The Court made clear that while such disclosure is constitutionally permissible it is not constitutionally required.

It also upheld the failure or refusal of the trial court to instruct the jury on the governor's power to commute a death sentence. (lawpipe)

The California Supreme Court affirmed respondent's conviction but reversed the death penalty, concluding that the Briggs Instruction violated the Federal Constitution, and remanded the case for a new penalty phase.

I bring this up captcrisis because I was uneasy about where you wrote, ". . . possibility of parole can be given. . . . "

In Cali, it was mandatory that the Briggs Instruction be given.

[Dan Schiavetta]

True, but the point of the Court's ruling was that giving it is permissible despite the Eighth Amendment, even though it results in a more likely without-parole sentence. I can't think of any reason why making it mandatory would raise a Constitutional issue.

Thanks!

[F.D. Wolf]

Marshall was among the last surviving Founding Fathers, the last surviving member of President John Adams' Cabinet, and the last surviving Cabinet member to have served in the 18th century.

John Marshall died in Philadelphia where he had gone to undergo treatment for bladder stones. During his funeral procession, the Liberty Bell was tolled. Legend says this was when it cracked, never to be rung again. This story is probably apocryphal, as there are no surviving contemporary newspaper accounts of it, but, in fact, we have no surviving contemporary accounts of exactly when the Liberty Bell cracked.

[Mr. Bumble]

If the story is true, is there some kind symbolism there?

[Dan Schiavetta]

For slaves it would have been deeply ironic.

[SMP0328]

For slaves it would have been deeply ironic.

Especially considering who succeeded Marshall: Roger B. Taney, author of the Dred Scott decision.