Today in Supreme Court History: September 17, 1787

9/17/1787: The Constitution is signed.

The Constitution

Happy Constitution Day!

Comments

[Dan Schiavetta]

Mikutaitis v. United States, 478 U.S. 1306 (decided September 17, 1986): Stevens grants stay of contempt order of witness who refused to testify in denaturalization proceeding against Nazi collaborator despite being given immunity; witness had also collaborated but had also aided Lithuanians trying to break away from the Soviet Union (our ally at the time), and argued that sealing of testimony would not protect him because he himself was in danger of being deported to the Soviet Union where he would be convicted of treason and executed; Stevens notes that whether sealing is adequate to protect witness is an open question that is subject to another pending cert application (though cert in both cases was denied the next month) (Stevens seems unaware that by publishing the facts he was already letting the cat out of the bag) (unknown what happened to Mikutaitis)

[Commenter_XY]

What a fine document = US Constitution. The passage of time makes me appreciate those men in Philadelphia a long time ago, even more. I have learned so much about the Constitution right here at VC.

[Martinned2]

Imagine how much better it would be if you could read it and understand it without thousands of pages of learned commentary!

[JoeFromtheBronx]

September 17, 2014: stay of execution and cert request of Lisa Coleman's sentence of death denied.

"Lisa Coleman became the fifteenth American woman to be executed since 1976 when she was given a lethal injection in Texas on Wednesday evening for her role in [a horrible crime]."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/18/lisa-coleman-texas-lethal-injection-executed

Starting next week, six executions are scheduled over less than two weeks (9/20-10/1).

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/upcoming-executions

[The Margrave of Azilia]

“Lisa Coleman became the fifteenth American woman to be executed since 1976 when she was given a lethal injection in Texas on Wednesday evening for her role in [a horrible crime].”

Relying on the link, we can replace "[a horrible crime]" with "the starvation death and torture of her partner's nine-year-old son."

[JoeFromtheBronx]

In honor of Constitution Day, a bit of love for the Third Amendment.

As Justice Jackson notes in the Steel Seizure Cases:

"That military powers of the Commander in Chief were not to supersede representative government of internal affairs seems obvious from the Constitution and from elementary American history."

See also, Laird v. Tatum ("reflect a traditional and strong resistance of Americans to any military intrusion into civilian affairs").

Griswold v. Connecticut lists it among the amendments that protect the right to privacy. See also, Katz. v. U.S.

Those cases arguably in dicta incorporated the amendment. The Second Circuit in Engblom v. Carey did so officially. We still await a formal SCOTUS ruling on the point.

[SMP0328]

9/17/1787: The Constitution is signed.

Fortunately, enough people realized that the Necessary and Proper Clause was so broadly worded that a list of exceptions was needed to protect individual rights. That's how we got the Bill of Rights.

[Martinned2]

You would have needed those without the Necessary and Proper Clause too.

[Syd Henderson]

The British never actually quartered soldiers in people’s homes but I believe they did do it in inns. I think it also applies to militia and possibly policemen. Good to know Justice Robert Jackson cited the Third Amendment. It doesn’t figure in many decisions but would be incorporated if the Supreme Court gets an appropriate case (which I hope they don’t).

[Syd Henderson]

Mitchell v. City of Henderson contradicts me as far as policemen using a house as lookout. District court decision.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

I found a reference to quartering during the French and Indian War:

https://teachdemocracy.org/images/pdf/quarteringofsoldiersincolonialaamerica.pdf

The Third Amendment became relevant during multiple American conflicts, including the seizure and occupation of the homes of Aleutians (Alaska) during WWII.

[Commenter_XY]

Anyone misplace about 3K pagers; I think they were just found in Lebanon. 🙂

[Jason Cavanaugh]

Terrorism sure is funny when Israel does it, amiright?

[Commenter_XY]

War is all hell, Jason. That is the truth.

[Jason Cavanaugh]

Deploying thousands of IEDs with no knowledge of their location or who might be hurt or killed by the explosions is not war: it’s terrorism.

Nobody expects you to know the difference with your blatant prejudices.

(And Blackman is deleting comments he claims not to read.)

[David Nieporent]

Deploying thousands of IEDs with no knowledge of their location or who might be hurt or killed by the explosions

Making an awful lot of assumptions there.

[Jason Cavanaugh]

We know they were purchased by Hezbollah, which is at least a reasonable starting point.

Beyond that, to whom they were actually distributed and who would be nearby when the explosion occurred is at best a reasonable guess for the former, but unknowable for the latter.

That combination should bother people.

[TwelveInchPianist]

It's reasonable to assume that the vast majority of the damage was done to Hezbollah members.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Israel had to do something to neutralize the threat, after all.

[Commenter_XY]

It bothers me that more pagers were not distributed to Hezbollah, quite honestly. America has unfinished business with Hezbollah.

FTR, Israel did not claim responsibility for the malfunctioning beepers.

[Commenter_XY]

Oh Jason, just to let you know. Your hezbollah friends tested some new Walkie-Talkies today, since their beepers blew the fuck up. Didn't go too well, they never got past 'Can you hear me now?' 😉

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Appropriately, it is civics champion Justice David Hackett Souter's birthday (born 1939) today.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

"At 3:30 p.m. in Lebanon, the pagers received a message that appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership, two of the officials said. Instead, the message activated the explosives. Lebanon’s health minister told state media at least 11 people were killed and more than 2,700 injured."

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/17/world/middleeast/israel-hezbollah-pagers-explosives.html

[Commenter_XY]

Yes, it will be known as: The Night of The Thousand Bris'

An unusually high number of hezbollah fighters with their balls blown off. How fitting.