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 copies of 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)

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

I used to listen to KPFA and send them money every month, but they kept crowding out general programming in favor of such specialist esoteric stuff that there was nothing left to listen to. How much John Cage can one listen to before deciding his only useful work (4' 33") was too short? How many gay women prisoners actually produce enough poetry for their own hour-long prime-time workshop?

And while I appreciate that interviews with KKK Wizards, Neo Nazis, and Che Guevara are useful for pushing free speech boundaries, they are not useful to listen to. Murderous thugs are still murderous thugs.

As a kid, they used to broadcast The Goon Show and other oddball stuff that was at least listenable to a lot of people. Maybe in pre-internet days, John Cage, gay women prisoner poets, and KKK Wizards had no other way of appearing before the public. But this particular member of the public wasn't interested.

I don't even care if they're still around. The Internet has made them mostly superfluous.

[SRG2]

How much John Cage can one listen to before deciding his only useful work (4′ 33″) was too short?

The Klemperer recording is much longer 😉

[Seamus]

It's a pretty expansive definition of "Supreme Court history" that extends to events 11 years before the Framers even conceived of a "supreme Court."

[Dan Schiavetta]

Even saying it was signed on July 4 is misleading.

https://youtu.be/DT0qNAYJQWU

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Justice John Paul Stevens cited the Declaration of Independence in various opinions. A few other justices over the years agreed with his argument that the “liberty” protected by the Due Process Clause (and 9th Amendment) was pre-existing:

“I had thought it self-evident that all men were endowed by their Creator with liberty as one of the cardinal unalienable rights. It is that basic freedom which the Due Process Clause protects, rather than the particular rights or privileges conferred by specific laws or regulations.”

[Meachum v. Fano, dissenting opinion]

“A New Birth of Freedom: Human Rights, Named and Unnamed” by Charles L. Black Jr. also appeals to the DOI.

The DOI provides basic principles that helps to guide us in applying constitutional law. For instance, the train of abuses provides context to our values and the wrongs the Constitution guards against.

It also ends with an authorization to act like a nation and do things what a nation “may of right do.” Our nation is a limited government. The Trump immunity opinion notwithstanding.

[Z Crazy]

I did see a lot of caterwauling over this ruling.

What I do know is this.

There’s absolutely NO chance Dubya or Obama would be tried for war crimes, REGARDLESS of how this case was decided.

Why should anyone care if Trump whined about a stolen election, or even did forgery or perjury?

It’s like having your panties in a knot over the “misogyny” of Alec Baldwin yelling at his daughter, while giving Brian Mitchell, Scott Petersen, and Richard Speck Presidential Medals of Freedom!

[F.D. Wolf]

As I'm sure most (if not all) here are aware, former Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826, the 50th birthday of the United States. Adams died at about 6:20 PM. His last words were, "Thomas Jefferson survives," but unbeknownst to Adams, Jefferson had died a few hours earlier about 12:50 PM. Their journey from friends to bitter enemies to, in their final years, a rekindled friendship is a good reminder to all in these times of political division.

Remarkably enough, former President James Monroe would die exactly five years later on July 4, 1831. Unsurprisingly, July 4 is the only date on which three presidents died. The two other dates on which two presidents died are March 8, on which Millard Fillmore (1874) and William Howard Taft (1930) died; and December 26, on which Harry Truman (1972) and Gerald Ford (2006) died.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Both Adams and Jefferson, dying, were determined to make it to the 4th, and both succeeded.

Some things seem like obvious fabrications but in fact they happened.

Madison almost made it to the 4th (in 1836) but declared himself not worthy.