Today in Supreme Court History: July 25, 1965

7/25/1965: Justice Arthur J. Goldberg resigns.

Justice Arthur Goldberg

Comments

[Dan Schiavetta]

Miller v. California, 418 U.S. 915 (decided July 25, 1974): Appeal from California state court obscenity conviction (actually the state appellate court’s affirmance) dismissed because no federal question, apparently because the proper standard under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments had already been decided by the Court in 413 U.S. 15 (1973), which had vacated the first affirmance and sent it back to the state appellate court, which again affirmed the conviction. This was essentially a redo of the 5 - 4 1973 decision, with Brennan, Stewart and Marshall again arguing that the state obscenity statute was unconstitutionally overbroad, and Douglas (with the ghost of Hugo Black chiming in) again arguing that any obscenity statute violates the First Amendment.

Wasmuth v. Allen, 85 S.Ct. 5 (decided July 25, 1964): Harlan refuses to stay enforcement of a New York statute requiring chiropractors to pass exams in various medical topics before licensure; chiropractors were bent out of joint (sorry) by this allegedly arbitrary exercise of legislative power (14 N.Y.2d 391), but Harlan did not believe a public health measure should be stayed except in “demanding circumstances” and did not think there was a federal issue anyway warranting granting certiorari. No further history; either certiorari was denied, or the chiropractors gave up, or the subluxations were “adjusted” with state authorities.

Field v. United States, 1951 WL 44182 (decided July 25, 1951): (why was this not reported either in United States Reports or West’s Supreme Court Reporter?) Three applicants, including the writer Dashiell Hammett, were trustees of a bail fund and subpoenaed when four men convicted of Communist affiliation jumped bail. The three refused to hand over records, were convicted of contempt, were themselves denied bail, and applied to Stanley Reed as Circuit Justice pending appeal. He affirms the denial of bail because their refusal was undeniably “contemptuous” and their conviction would be affirmed by the Court. Apparently no cert petition was filed. Hammett’s tuberculosis worsened in prison, then when free in 1953 he refused to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee and was blacklisted, his health declined and he died in 1961.

[apedad]

Learned two new words!

Subluxations (from Wasmuth above)
As opposed to luxation (the complete dislocation of a joint), subluxations only result in the partial separation of a joint

Contumacious (from the Field v. United States decision)
(especially of a defendant's behavior) stubbornly or willfully disobedient to authority

[Dan Schiavetta]

Thanks! I feel proud now!

[Frank Drackman]

Subluxation, one of the 20,000 some words you learn in Med School, my favorites “Tenesmus”(look it up) “Dysdiadochokinesis”(great Phil Collins tube), “Dyspareunia( better than No-Pareunia)” “Crypts of Lieberkuhn”, Space of Disse(next to Space of Datt), MusculiPectinati, Mamillary Bodies(Hey Now!) Scarpa’s Fascia, Ligament of Treitz, Epiploic Foramen of Winslow, Pia Zadora Matter,

Frank

[Noscitur a sociis]

bent out of joint

Is this an expression? I can't recall ever encountering it before.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Maybe it's a New York thing. It's pretty common where I'm from.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Goldberg resigning turned out to be a dubious move. He could have stayed on the Supreme Court potentially until the 1980s.

His concurrence in Griswold v. Connecticut focused on the Ninth Amendment. He also played an important role in putting focus on the constitutional problems of the death penalty.

Here is an interesting article on the Field case with helpful links:

https://thejacksonlist.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/20160827-Jackson-List-Dennis-Vacation-1951.pdf

[ReaderY]

The idea of a Supreme Court justice resigning to become UN ambassador seems absolutely astonishing today. The idea that it could be considered preferable back then is an indication of just how much times have changed.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Goldberg must have really hated being on the Court.

[not guilty]

I remember reading decades ago (but I don't remember where) that Lyndon Johnson cajoled Goldberg into taking the UN appointment by appealing to Goldberg's pro-Israel sympathies. Johnson wanted to make room for appointing his friend Abe Fortas to what had become known as the "Jewish seat" on the Court. (Prior to Goldberg it had been held by Felix Frankfurter and Benjamin Cardozo.)

After Fortas resigned, no other Jew served on SCOTUS until Bill Clinton appointed Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

The accounts I read suggest LBJ appealed to his ego & implied that later on he could be appointed Chief Justice.

I am not aware of him not liking his time on the Court. It is also a reflection of how justices once weren’t just former Court of Appeals judges. They could see themselves in other roles.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Goldberg's skill was mediation, something that would have been useful there.

[Frank Drackman]

Well he was married to Marilyn Monroe, I’d retire too

[Dan Schiavetta]

Thanks!

[steeltown lad]

I had the good fortune to take a course...I think it was called "Supreme Court Advocacy"...that Goldberg taught as a Visiting Professor at Hastings....this would have been spring semester 1976. He was quite open with the class in recounting that LBJ had twisted his arm to get him to leave the Court in order to become UN Ambassador...arguing that the country needed him in that arena to defend our involvement in Vietnam on the world stage...and Goldberg said clearly that leaving the Court was the worst mistake of his life and one that he deeply regretted. I mean, I would think so.
In addition to obviously being brilliant, he was an extraordinarily gracious man...had the young aspiring lawyers over for cocktails at his hotel suite...I think it was the Clift (?) on Nob Hill...more than once, and made each of us feel welcome.