Today in Supreme Court History: December 7, 1941

12/7/1941: Pearl Harbor is attacked.

 

Comments

[Dan Schiavetta]

Campbell v. Holt, 115 U.S. 620 (decided December 7, 1885): new Texas constitution (which went into effect after Texas was readmitted into the Union) validly abolished statute of limitations as to suit for value of plantation (which included value added by pre-manumission slaves)

Michigan v. Fisher, 558 U.S. 45 (decided December 7, 2009): “emergency aid” exception to warrant requirement applied when man was seen screaming and throwing things in his house even though he pointed a gun at officer and demanded a warrant before entry and police didn’t know if anyone else was in the house (in dissent Stevens said trial judge’s impression of witnesses should be given deference and Court should not “micromanage” in a close case)

Lockhart v. United States, 546 U.S. 142 (decided December 7, 2005): Social Security benefits can be withheld to pay student loan debt (this holding will become important as this generation of college students gets to retirement age still in debt)

[Krayt]

That last one surprises me. Congress seemed to be very careful that such things were to keep oldies from eating cat food, and not as tits to attach to for debts. I assume Congress could fix it if they wanted to (chirp chirp chirp...)

[Dr. Ed 2]

Lockhart is already being applied to PARENTS who took out loans for their children, and has been for about 20 years now.

[F.D. Wolf]

In Campbell, the Court laid down the rule that states can, for the most part, alter or even eliminate statutes of limitations for civil actions as they see fit. (Though if they shorten them, they must give parties a reasonable amount of time to file their claims.) As the Court wrote, “A right to defeat a just debt by the statute of limitation . . . [is not] a vested right” protected by the Constitution.

It is perhaps ironic then that, as to criminal statutes, the Court has held that a state MAY NOT retroactively extend a statute of limitations. Stogner v. California, 539 U.S. 607 (2003) (striking down California statute retroactively extending statute of limitations for sexual offenses against minors as unconstitutional ex post facto law) (5-4 decision).

So, per the Supreme Court, an individual has no constitutional "right" to use a statute of limitations to avoid a debt, but does have a constitutional "right" to use a statute of limitations to avoid accountability for molesting children. (I'm not necessarily saying that's incorrect, just pointing out the irony. Stogner was one of the many 5-4 decisions in which the recently deceased Justice O'Connor provided the swing vote).

[Dan Schiavetta]

thanks!

[apedad]

About the student debt, one solution is companies are paying student debt (or have debt consolidation and counseling programs), as employment incentive - in addition to their Tuition Assistance programs.

For example, "Over the last five years, (Walmart) has helped employees save nearly half a billion dollars in what otherwise would have been student debt . . . . "

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/26/many-companies-offer-tuition-assistance-for-workers-to-go-to-college.html#:~:text=To%20that%20point%2C%2048%25%20of,large%20employers%20offer%20tuition%20reimbursement.

I'd like to see industry to a more active role especially since they're the ones who will utilize/benefit from a more educated workforce.

[Dan Schiavetta]

This might have worked in an earlier era, when one stayed with the same company until retirement, though the staggering scale of debt would be hard to accommodate. Not so sure about now.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

That's easy, just pay some fraction yearly.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Better yet, have students make the decisions and payments. They're the ultimate recipients and the only one with skin in the game.

[Martinned]

The attack on Pearl Harbor isn't even remotely "Supreme Court History". He could have at least linked it to Korematsu.

[Jerry B.]

It was an attempt by the Japanese to free Asians and Pacific Islanders from the European Colonialists.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Hey! What were American colonialists?

[Jerry B.]

They came from Europe, hence European colonialists. Of course, most of Europe was colonized at one point or another, so they were colonized colonialists, probably several times over. Sort of like how tribes of indigenous peoples in what we now call the Americas moved in on, and colonized lands belonging to other indigenous Americans, who may have previously colonized the land that was later colonized by other colonialists.

[defaultdotxbe]

The entire world was colonized by African colonists long before the entire world colonized Africa.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

So who were the Navajo Code Talkers of WW II fame?

Huh? Huh?

Ah geez, wotta mess.

[Syd Henderson]

Looks like he listened to Martinned.

[Ed Grinberg]

from a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed:

Sympathy for innocent Palestinian civilians who have been killed under the Israeli bombardment of Gaza? By all means. Who doesn’t feel that? The mirror neurons of any decent person must respond at the sight of child-sized body bags in the ruins of a Palestinian hospital; the stunned, unbearable grief on the faces of those still alive. The conscience recoils and cries, “Stop!”
But wait. Draw back. Who-whom, as Lenin said: How you assign blame for violence depends on who has done what to whom. The Americans didn’t bomb Yokohama on Dec. 7, 1941; the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. And the Japanese were responsible for what followed.

[Krayt]

What really irritates the noggin is that that was part of the planning, to rely on international pressure to stop the response so Hamas could survive.

NPR interviewed a Hezbollah leader a few weeks back.

"If you launch missiles from Lebanon, Israel said their response would be overwhelming. Aren't you afraid of civilian deaths in Lebanon?"

"Nope. Them's the breaks." (Paraphrased)

"If there are many civilian deaths in Lebanon as a response to your actions, will you feel responsible?"

"Nope. Those deaths are on Israel, hee hee." (Paraphrased)