Today in Supreme Court History: December 13, 1873

12/13/1873: Justice Samuel Nelson died.

Justice Samuel Nelson

Comments

[Mr. Bumble]

Welcome to the future.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Great Scott!

[Dan Schiavetta]

Things are screwed up today!

Anyway . . .

Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (decided December 12, 2000): stopped the recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court (though the Court had already stayed it), citing Equal Protection violation; hard to summarize this “don’t ever cite us for this!” decision further so I won’t try (Westlaw lists 106 cases giving this case “negative treatment”, courts on all levels except the Supreme Court itself of course). Note: Maybe due to the rushed briefing this wasn’t brought out, but this decision seemed to me to overrule the Taylor v. Beckham, 1900, line of cases, which shut federal court doors to Lyndon Johnson’s opponent in the 1948 Senate race and to Richard Nixon in 1960 (Nixon, a well-read lawyer, didn’t even try because he knew it was pointless)

Mitchell v. New York, L.E. & W.R. Co., 146 U.S. 513 (decided December 12, 1892): trial court correctly directed verdict for defendant railroad where teenager who had secretly climbed on top of coal car with his friends fell to his death due to “sudden jerk” of train

Shaw v. United States, 580 U.S. 63 (decided December 12, 2016): 18 U.S.C. §1344 (bank fraud) applies to defrauding a depositor as well as a bank

[JoeFromtheBronx]

I wait for a more ideal age when Bush v. Gore is declared wrong the day it was decided.

[Dan Schiavetta]

As far as the collateral damage it caused, it ranks behind only Dred Scott and Plessy. Though the result of Trump v. United States remains to be seen.

[Frank Drackman]

You left out "Roe" or do 60,000,000+ dead babies not count as "Collateral Damage"??, and before you answer, just remember a good proportion of those dead cell tissue masses would be your future Floyd Georges/Jordan Neelys, oh wait, maybe "Roe" wasn't so bad after all.

[Bob from Ohio]

"it ranks behind only Dred Scott and Plessy"

LOL No hyperbole here!

No SCOTUS was going to let the a state Supreme Court decide the presidency. Of course Gore could have asked for a state wide recount rather than cherry pick Dem counties, maybe it would have turned out differently,

[Dan Schiavetta]

1) turning surpluses into record deficits, quite deliberately
2) letting 9/11 happen
3) incredibly stupid Iraq invasion, trillions of dollars lost, many lives

I stand by what I said.

As for federal courts letting State Supreme Courts decide elections, that was what routinely happened.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

You left out the opportunity cost of what Gore might have done. You assume he would have been lightness and truth and oh so good. And you assume he could have prevented 9/11 by some magic, when Clinton had been in charge of the intel deep swamp for 8 years. Do you really think Dumbya destroyed the intel community in the short time he was in office?

[Bob from Ohio]

"prevented 9/11 by some magic"

An analysis wrote "determined to attack" and Bush was supposed to know date, time, method and location of an attack.

Its magical thinking.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Clinton gave the 9/11 Committee pretty much everything it wanted and readily testified under oath. Bush resisted disclosure and agreed to appear only informally with Cheney by his side. Don’t you think that was odd?

[Bob from Ohio]

"Don’t you think that was odd?"

No.

You have proven by geometric certainty that there was a duplicate key.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Not a serious response, especially what came out about the Bush Administration's dismissal of Clinton/Gore's concerns about al Qaeda. Clinton had come within hours of killing bin Laden. The press treated this as a diversion from the real issue threatening the nation: semen stains on a blue dress.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

I thought George W. Bush was getting Strange New Respect today.

[Frank Drackman]

"W" says you don't pay that rent on time next month he's gonna go "Nuke-ular"

[JoeFromtheBronx]

My countdown to Christmas gnome tells me it's 12/12. That would be the day Taft nominated fellow "big guy" Associate Justice Edward Douglass White Chief Justice in 1910.

It was once noted here that Justice Holmes liked working with Chief Justice White. Maybe, they bonded over Civil War service on opposite sides.

White like Justices Blackmun and Kennedy was a member of the "Old #3 club" involving those who were a third choice when nominated as associate justices. The previous option was Mr. Three Last Names aka Wheeler Hazard Peckham. His brother Rufus Peckham was eventually confirmed.

White had some notable opinions, including Guinn v. United States (1915), which invalidated the Oklahoma and Maryland grandfather clauses. He was getting up in years when he became a Chief Justice but his successor, Taft, turned out to serve fewer years in that role.

The picture at Wikipedia suggests like Taft he was a big man. One biography labeled him as a "large and bearish man from Louisiana."

[apedad]

Re: Mitchell

A couple of days ago, I asked why a court could overrule a jury's decision (and got good answers).

Now, in this Mitchell case, we have the Supreme Court approving, " (a) direction of the circuit court to the jury to find for the defendant in an action against a common carrier for causing the death of a passenger, on the ground that the evidence did not establish negligence on the part of the carrier and did show contributory negligence on the part of the passenger . . . . "

So how can a judge 'direct' a jury decision?

I can see a judge dismissing the case but directing a jury?

Also the SC decision doesn't site constitutional backing for this their decision: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/146/513/

[Dan Schiavetta]

In my experience a directed verdict gets issued before the case even goes to the jury. Typically the motion for it is made after plaintiff has finished presenting his case.

[Jerry B.]

Many years ago, I was on a jury for a property dispute of some kind. We listened to the opening statements and were completely baffled as to what the point of the trial was. The judge sent us to the jury room, and we told the bailiff that we had no clue. The judge called us back out, excoriated both attorneys, thanked us for our time, and directed a verdict.

[Dan Schiavetta]

United States v. Wheeler, 254 U.S. 281 (decided December 13, 1920): Constitutional right to travel (art. IV, §2) does not apply to state action (quashing indictment of Arizona sheriff who rounded up 1300 striking miners and sent them in cattle cars without supplies to New Mexico and threatened them with death if they returned to Arizona) (in effect overruled by United States v. Guest, 1966)

White v. United States, 154 U.S. 661 (decided December 13, 1880): owner of vessel had no recovery against government for wartime damage caused by refusal of ship’s master to obey military commander

Devenpeck v. Alford, 543 U.S. 146 (decided December 13, 2004): arrest valid even though based on probable cause of crime (impersonating an officer) that is not related to the crime that ended up being charged (secretly audiotaping arresting police officer’s questioning, which was in violation of state law)

[Mr. Bumble]

The ripple in the space time continuum has been corrected.
Today is actually December 13.

[apedad]

Not in Sydney Australia.

[F.D. Wolf]

One of Justice Nelson's seven children, Rensselaer Russell Nelson, followed in his father's footsteps as a federal judge. He was appointed by President Buchanan in 1858 a district judge for the District of Minnesota, where he served for 38 years. One day, in the middle of a trial, he dismissed the jury, adjourned the court, and announced his retirement. He had celebrated his 70th birthday four days earlier, entitling him to retire at full salary.

[Krayt]

Ironic that another wannabe President Buchanan was the real problem behind Bush v. Gore.

[Drewski]

I guess the gravitational field of Blackman's ego has reached the point where an outside observer sees only one day pass on the VC while two go by locally.

[Dan Schiavetta]

That's the best explanation. Opens up a new point of departure in black hole theory.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

Today's totally shocking, surprising news: Crystal Mangum admits she lied about the Duke Lacrosse players raping her.

She was interviewed from prison, where she's serving time for killing her boyfriend.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/crystal-mangum-who-accused-duke-lacrosse-players-of-rape-says-she-testified-falsely-against-them/ar-AA1vOxYZ