Today in Supreme Court History: November 1, 1961

11/1/1961: Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut opens center in New Haven, CT.

"Specific guarantees in the Bill of Rights have penumbras, formed by emanations from those guarantees that help give them life and substance." An ''emanation'' refers to a ray of light. During a lunar eclipse, the ''umbra'' refers to the darkest part of the shadow formed when the Earth orbits between the sun and the moon. The ''penumbra'' refers to the lighter part of the shadow, where some of the ''emanations'' from the sun are visible.

Comments

[Dan Schiavetta]

Graham v. Fulton County Special Purpose Grand Jury, 143 S.Ct. 397 (decided November 1, 2022): According to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Sen. Lindsey Graham leaned on him after the 2020 election to discard some absentee ballots. Does the Speech and Debate Clause (art. I, §6, cl. 1) prohibit questioning of Graham about this in front of a Georgia grand jury investigating Trump’s interference with the election results? The Court’s short order affirms that the Clause applies to Graham’s “informal investigation” (arguably a legislative activity), but does not mention the wider context, which was that Graham could still be questioned about his contacts with the Trump campaign. Graham testified as to those on November 22, 2022, his suit was dismissed as moot by the Eleventh Circuit on December 20, and Trump and eighteen others were indicted on August 14, 2023.

Manila Investment Co. v. Park Trammell, 239 U.S. 31 (decided November 1, 1915): suit alleging breach of trust as to property was mere contract dispute and not Equal Protection violation and so no federal court jurisdiction

Anderson v. Harless, 459 U.S. 4 (decided November 1, 1982): another case holding that you can’t seek habeas in federal court until the issue (here, a faulty jury instruction on how to find malice) has been argued in state court and the appellate process there has been exhausted

Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority v. Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Co. of Virginia, 464 U.S. 30 (decided November 1, 1983): telephone company forced to relocate lines due to street realignment wasn’t “displaced person” entitled to benefits under federal relocation assistance statute; statute did not displace common law rule that public utilities forced to relocate from right-of-way must do so at own expense (we all hated the telephone company, but couldn’t a Fifth Amendment “takings” argument have been made?)

[apedad]

O/T

‘Respondent is commanded to desist’: Pro-Trump lawyer at center of fake electors plot has law license suspended in another state after ‘serious crime’ conviction

(Ken Chesebro) a pro-Trump lawyer who more than one year ago now pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit filing false documents, a felony, and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors against Georgia RICO case co-defendants, which includes the former president, has been “convicted of a serious crime” and, for that reason, should have his license to practice in New York “immediately” suspended, a court decided on Thursday.

“The Attorney Grievance Committee for the Third Judicial Department advises that, as of March 2024, respondent was temporarily suspended by the Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk County in Massachusetts,” a footnote said. “Moreover, respondent is listed as not eligible to practice law in California; inactive and not eligible to practice law in Florida; and voluntarily inactive in Illinois.”

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/respondent-is-commanded-to-desist-pro-trump-lawyer-at-center-of-fake-electors-plot-has-law-license-suspended-in-another-state-after-serious-crime-conviction/

The poor guy just can't catch a break!

But seems like he might be getting on the right track.

After he plead guilty on Oct 20, 2023, "(h)e also apologized in a letter to the 'citizens of the State of Georgia and of Fulton County' for his 'involvement in Count 15 of the indictment.' He’s reportedly been cooperating in other state investigations since."

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Today is All Saints Day, a Catholic day of holy obligation (an obligation to go to mass when it’s not a Sunday).

Also, for the first time, New York City’s public school students will have Friday off to observe Diwali, a holiday celebrated worldwide by Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains.

Diwali, also known as Deepavali or the “Festival of Lights,” is a celebration of light over darkness.

https://gothamist.com/news/what-you-need-to-know-about-diwali-now-an-nyc-public-school-holiday

The school holiday is an additional way different groups have been honored over the years. For instance, the schools are off for Rosh Hashanah.

The Supreme Court has noted that it is acceptable to have some secular recognition of religion (e.g., Lynch v. Donnelly). Traditionally, France, there was a de facto favoritism of Christianity.

A diverse respect for different cultures honors equal protection and religious liberty values.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

(The holy days of obligation can be tweaked so people can go to mass on Sunday. But, traditionally, that was the general idea.)

Also, that was "like in France." The comment was saved by mistake, so I did not have time to edit it properly.

[apedad]

Is beating Muslims part of the Hindus celebration?

And is it really a celebration of "light" when a thick layer of toxic smog cloaked India’s capital on Friday as smoke from firecrackers used to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, pushed air pollution to hazardous levels?

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/toxic-smog-cloaks-new-delhi-day-after-diwali-115383533

Stupid, stupid people.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Jay Wexler, in "When God Isn't Green," discusses various religious ceremonies that have troublesome environmental effects.

There are over a billion Hindus in the world. Like Christians, how they practice comes in various shapes and sizes.

[Frank Drackman]

and tomorrow certain SECts of the SEC (get it) will celebrate the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party"
never understood why Georgia agrees to play one of their conference games in their opponents home state (although Jacksonville has more of a Georgia vibe than Florida), but those Georgia fans just don't take their Foo-Bawl as seriously as we do in Al-a-Bama(!) (HT K. Jackson)

Frank

[SRG2]

"The Court’s short order affirms that the Clause applies to Graham’s “informal investigation” (arguably a legislative activity)"

Which is of course bullshit because the Constitution very clearly states when immunity applies and informal investigations are not covered. But the textualists/originalists don't seem to have a problem in cases like this.

[Dan Schiavetta]

One of many cases where the Court has bent over backwards to insulate Trump & Co. from liability.

[Michael P]

Where does the Constitution "very clearly state[]" when qualified and official immunity apply?

[SRG2]

Where does the Constitution “very clearly state[]” when qualified and official immunity apply?

Art 1 S6:

They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

Now this has been interpreted increasingly broadly – as the Graham case shows. But it is really very clear, no?

Qualified immunity, btw, is not to be found in the Constitution, and is, instead, the creation of activist judges.

Here is a commentary on A1 S6: https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artI-S6-C1-3-1/ALDE_00013300/

[Krayt]

People are fine with penumbras when it comes to the second amendment, with its implication sales, transport, and manufacturing of weapons is also protected.

IIRC, the right to mass produce and distribute speech is now covered directly by the free speech clause penumbras, redundant protection (good!) to the specifically called out protection of the press which, whether institutional or mechanical, both directly protect mass production and distribution.

[Lennyk78]

It's fundamentally dishonest to say that protecting weapons' manufacturing is a penumbra, rather than implicit.

[Dr. Ed 2]

While gravity will bend light, the earth isn't big enough to do it, and definitely not to the extent shown.

That chart's drawn wrong -- penumbra is because the sun is so much bigger than the earth, portions of the sun have the ability to bypass the earth, and total blockage of sunlight only occurs in a relatively small area.

[Frank Drackman]

Ooohh! Ooohh! Mr. Kotter! Mr. Kotter, can I play? Africa's also way out of proportion to it's actual size! For fun once in a while when there's a New Moon I'll check one of the sites to see just how close we are to a Total Solar Eclipse, it's almost always just a few degrees away, took a Clever Surpreme Being to put that 5 degree tilt in the Moon's orbit, can you imagine a Total Solar Eclipse every month? Nobody would appreciate it.

Frank

[JoeFromtheBronx]

A concurring opinion in Lamont v. Postmaster General (handed down at about the same time as Griswold), agreed to by three justices (Brennan, Goldberg, Harlan), noted:

It is true that the First Amendment contains no specific guarantee of access to publications. However, the protection of the Bill of Rights goes beyond the specific guarantees to protect from congressional abridgment those equally fundamental personal rights necessary to make the express guarantees fully meaningful.

The 9th Amendment helps to reaffirm this "necessary and proper" principle of rights. It is a sensible approach and funny sounding words does not make it less so.