Today in Supreme Court History: August 17, 1988

8/17/1988: Republican party nominates George H.W. Bush for President. He would appoint David Souter and Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.

President George H.W. Bush's appointees to the Supreme Court

Comments

[Dan Schiavetta]

Arrow Transportation Co. v. Southern Ry. Co., 83 S.Ct. 1 (decided August 17, 1962): Black continues restraining order as to railway rates which plaintiff barge operator argues are so low (below cost) as to destroy barge industry in violation of Interstate Commerce Commission Act; notes federal question and likelihood of granting cert (however the Court ultimately dismissed the case as premature, the new rates having been suspended by the ICC pending administrative review, 372 U.S. 658, 1963)

Edwards v. Hope Medical Group for Women, 512 U.S. 1301 (decided August 17, 1994): Scalia denies stay of order preventing enforcement of Louisiana statute prohibiting public funds from being used to pay for abortions except to save life of mother; Hyde Amendment did not apply to this type of funding, states accepting Medicaid were required to provide such coverage, and cert had been denied in similar cases

Sellers v. United States, 89 S.Ct. 36 (decided August 17, 1968): Black denies request to suspend bail for civil rights activist convicted of rioting; though defendant had gone on unauthorized trip to Japan, made bellicose statements and was involved in another incident, he had always shown up for court dates and was not a flight risk (all the other defendants were white and were acquitted; the only casualties were dead protesters shot by police; defendant was pardoned by South Carolina Governor Campbell, a Republican, in 1993 and became president of a historically black college)

[F.D. Wolf]

I believe your description of the Stevens is slightly confusing and seems to conflate different state and federal cases. Naturally, a pardon from the governor of South Carolina would not directly relate to a case called Stevens v. United States.

Cleveland Stevens was an important figure in the civil rights and black militant movements. The case you cite concerned his conviction for refusal to be inducted into the military service. At his allocution, he delivered an ill-advised "only black people can sentence me" diatribe that clearly did not sit well with the judge, who gave him the maximum of five years. He also used the statement to deny him bail pending appeal, which Black here held was improper. The Supreme Court denied cert on the issue of his draft board being all-white, with Douglas dissenting, joined by Warren and Marshall. Sellers v. Laird, 395 U.S. 950. In a separate appeal, the Court remanded the case for reconsideration in light of another case holding a defendant had a right to inspect government wiretaps. As best I can tell, the case bounced around a little, and, at some point, the government just dropped it.

Sellers was also (probably dubiously) convicted of inciting a riot in a South Carolina state case related to events surrounding the 1968 "Orangeburg Massacre", in which police fired on protestors, killing three and injuring several others. Nine officers were brought up on federal charges, but were all acquitted.

[Dan Schiavetta]

I'm a little confused here. I didn't summarize any Stevens case.

[F.D. Wolf]

Sorry. The Cleveland SELLERS case. I must have been thinking of Bewitched.

[Dan Schiavetta]

A good show with a lot of imaginative episodes, all based on the central premise. I recommend "Eye of the Beholder" (S01 E22), "Abner Kadabra" (S01 E29), "Samantha's Thanksgiving" (S04 E12), and of course "Sisters at Heart" (S07 E13).

Yes, the Sellers pardon was for another (state law) conviction.

[Dilan Esper]

TBC, the reason Scalia upheld the abortion funding in Edwards is because Louisiana's ban would extend to funding abortions after rape and incest, and Medicaid provided for such funding at the time.

[Frank Drackman]

and like every other lefthanded POTUS (Garfield, Hoover, Hairy Truman, Ford, Ronaldus Maximus (wrote with his right but was a natural lefty) Clinton, and Barry Hussein, GHWB did absolutely nothing for Southpaw rights. “International Lefthanders Day” was August 13, anyone notice? https://nationaltoday.com/international-lefthanders-day/do anything special for that Southpaw in your life? Decks stacked against us from the start, Notebooks, Gear Shifts, even friggin Can Openers!! Oh, and there’s shorter life expectancy, and false claims of increased criminal tendencies (No, Charlie Manson wasn’t a Lefty, or Lee Harvey O, or Orenthal James Simpson, you know who was? Leonardo Davinci, Einstein (I know he wrote with his right hand, he grew up in Germany, they made lefties “Convert” to right handed) Mark Twain and Bill Gates And Steve Carlton, Sandy Koufax, and Lou Gehrig (like I said, shorter life expectancy)

Frank “Lefty” Drackman

[SRG2]

One of the best investments I ever made was a pair of left-handed kitchen scissors. Not only do they work very well, they confuse any right-hander who tries to use them.

[Dan Schiavetta]

today's movie review: Private Benjamin, 1980

What a satisfying movie this was to see, Goldie Hawn's journey from spoiled J.A.P. (Jewish American Princess) who joins the Army based on ads portraying it as a luxury fat farm, to assertive woman who is not afraid to lodge sexual harassment charges against her commanding officer. (Could she really do that then? As often happens, the best portraits of military life are from liberals, and "Doonesbury", the comic strip that rendered the most layered and nuanced portrayal of military life, at least according to my career-Army sister, showed that under pre-Obama rules she couldn't. See https: // http://www.strategicliving.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/20e67ea02d3401313f44001dd8b71c47-1.jpg)

Judy Benjamin is widowed after her husband (the underused Albert Brooks) dies on their wedding night in the middle of ejaculation. (At the funeral, his bereaved mother asks: "What were his last words, dear?" "'I'm coming'.") In the Army she is set straight to rights by her drill sergeant (Eileen Brennan). She's knocked into shape and joins an elite squad where she is sexually attacked by her C.O. (Robert Webber) and decides to press charges. She is taken in briefly by a European soccer star (Armand Assante) -- didn't you know from the beginning that he was bad news?) -- and dumps him when he two-times.

This movie can be contrasted with No Time for Sergeants, 1958, where Andy Griffith's hillbilly father chains him to the front porch to keep him from getting drafted. "They don't respect our kind of people", he says. Here, Judy's father opposes Judy joining an Army which is not "our kind of people". There are a lot of funny scenes -- for example, the prank with Brennan and the ink-filled shower head -- and when Judy screams when thrown out of the airplane, then pulls the ripcord on her parachute ("ahhhh!!") -- but also some surprising touches, like when Judy and her (female) companions are chatting over the fire during a war game, and one talks about never having reached an orgasm, though she's gotten close a couple of times. (I've been to bed with a couple of those, and another who said that her first ever orgasm was with me, though I never quite believed her. Richard Pryor did a funny bit about finding out his new girlfriend had never had an orgasm, and going to bed armed with a flotilla of sex toys.)

Can I say "J.A.P."? I learned the phrase in college from a Jewish friend of mine (a violin major who specialized in going braless in leotards on cold mornings). She said, "It really doesn't have to do with being Jewish . . . ." Not sure about that. Cultural "types" really do exist, and we should acknowledge them, with the understanding that no person is just a stereotype (as Judy turns out not to be). Girls do get brought up spoiled, in various subcultures. In law school my black girlfriend took me along to a conference in San Francisco about black women in the law, entitled "Women of Color at the Center", where we heard speeches by Angela Davis (good God was she full of herself! -- I met her sister, quiet and modest, at a party). I was the only white person there and almost the only male. On the way back I said, "Half of the students there were Black American Princesses who already think they're the center of the universe!"

Back to this movie . . .

It spawned a TV series in which poor Lorna Patterson played a noticeably de-Jewified version of Judy. Can a movie like that be made today? Would too many people be offended? It's been clear for some time that we can't use the phrase "J.A.P." in polite conversation. My guess is, no, innocuous a comedy as it seemed at the time, it couldn't be made today. Though one can still say "hillbilly". Poor white folks are always fair game for ridicule.

I should end there -- but I should add that I first saw this movie when I lived in a small Southern town. I went with a friend. According to the sign the theater showed "adult" films on Sunday nights. In the pre-cable, pre-VCR days, this was the only way to see them. For sure, some local bigwigs would be there. Why don't we go, sit in the front row, and turn around with our flash Polaroid cameras and take pics of the audience?? They'll be blinded by the flash and we can make our getaway via that door next to the screen. Alas, didn't happen. I don't remember if I was the one who chickened out, or he was.

[Mr. Bumble]

Funny that you think the best portrayals of military life are from people who never served.

[Dan Schiavetta]

In the political realm, liberals are more likely to have served than conservatives. Look up the phrase "chicken hawk".

[Mr. Bumble]

Sure, like Da Nang Dick and John F(ucking) Kerry among the many.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Why are you such an immature asshole?

You are now muted. Once in a while you give a helpful or mature comment but you have to understand that even in those instances I won't be thanking you or responding.

[Mr. Bumble]

I'm muted! Oh Noes!
Talk about immature.

[Frank Drackman]

"Chicken Hawk"??
What's Barney Fag, I mean Frank got to do with this?
and you left out Hillary Rodman taking anti aircraft fire in Bosnia.

Frank

[Mr. Bumble]

You forgot Al Gore's 5 months of service as a "reporter" (what MOS was that?) and Pete Bootyjig's service.

[SRG2]

I find JAP a reasonably useful term. When I first moved to NYC as a British Jew I was exposed to the breed, but, not having been brought up by a JAP mother to indulge the next generation of JAPs, I avoided years of neurosis by proxy. Every single one I dated was aware of the stereotype, and they all denied it in the most unconvincing manner - "I'm not a JAP because I can cook/I don't go shopping at Bloomingdales every week/I like dive bars*", etc etc.

* There is an entire subcategory of NYC bars , the fake dive bar. When any woman says she likes dive bars, these are the bars she means. She would not go to a real dive bar because they are, generally, unpleasant and charmless.

[Mr. Bumble]

I think the category has been expanded way beyond Jews.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

I think the rule is that you can say stuff about "your" group which "outsiders" can't say.

Of course, thanks to Bostock you can't enforce this rule in the workplace. A Jewish employee who said "JAP" would have to be disciplined the same as a Gentile employee, to achieve geometrical equality.

[Commenter_XY]

I have never met a Jewish American Princess (JAP); they see themselves as Queens. 🙂

[Syd Henderson]

Interestingly, two of the best movies about World War II Army combat "Battleground" and "The Story of GI Joe" were directed by William A. Wellman, who was a World War I pilot and actually looked down on the ground troops in more ways than one. Of course, he also directed "Wings" and "The High and the Mighty" and other aviation movies, as well a lot of other great films.

[Syd Henderson]

If you're not familiar with them, ""The Story of GI Joe" comes from Ernie Pyle's columns on the war in Italy (Burgess Meredith is Ernie Pyle, and Robert Mitchum is great as as an army captain), and "Battleground" is about ground troops in the Battle of the Bulge.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Ernie Pyle was a great writer. I have two of his collected works.

[Frank Drackman]

Gomer Pyle was a great singer.
Get his best hits here.https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-best-of-jim-nabors/193002504

[Syd Henderson]

In fact, Robert Mitchum unbelievably got only one Oscar nomination in his long career. It was for supporting actor for "The Story of GI Joe."

[Dan Schiavetta]

That was pre-arrest.