Today in Supreme Court History: June 13, 1977

6/13/1977: Justice Tom C. Clark dies.

Justice Tom C. Clark

Comments

[bye]

In Schempp he gave an egregiously bad opinion
It was 'religion' and only religion that ended slavery and bigamy. My guess is he had no idea about natural law or the State Constitutions origin of the Bill of Rights

Bills of Rights Before the Bill of Rights: Early State Constitutions and the American Tradition of Rights, 1776-1790
by Peter J. Galie (Author), Christopher Bopst (Author), Bethany Kirschner (Author)

It was based on Bible religion (Christian and Jewish) and restricted to the Natural Religion/Natural Law foundations, the religions and morality based on reason

Schempp missed the boat but Reynolds v United States didn't
"Laws are made for the government of actions, and while they cannot interfere with mere religious belief and opinions, they may with practices. Suppose one believed that human sacrifices were a necessary part of religious worship, would it be seriously contended that the civil government under which he lived could not interfere to prevent a sacrifice? Or if a wife religiously believed it was her duty to burn herself upon the funeral pile of her dead husband, would it be beyond the power of the civil government to prevent her carrying her belief into practice?

So here, as a law of the organization of society under the exclusive dominion of the United States, it is provided that plural marriages shall not be allowed. Can a man excuse his practices to the contrary because of his religious belief? To permit this would be to make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect to permit every citizen to become a law unto himself. Government could exist only in name under such circumstances. . ."

IN Islam and Mormonism you can have bigamy , you can certainly have slaves but not in Christian America

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Harry Truman's four SCOTUS picks were people who could be dismissed as "cronies." They were not very memorable.

Two were quite forgettable. The Chief Justice supposedly reaffirmed Frankfurter's faith in God by dying quickly. Tom Clark was a pretty good pick. He was conservative leaning on 1A and criminal justice matters but still wrote Mapp v. Ohio.

Then, again, he was a big believer in the right to privacy. He wrote an influential article that suggested it would (to some degree) include a right to choose an abortion. He wrote an article (after he left SCOTUS but still filled in as a lower court judge) suggesting it covered the right to possess marijuana.

He also wrote notable religious liberty cases, including U.S. v. Seeger, which was a statutory dispute involving conscientious objectors. His opinion influenced the understanding of the meaning of "religion" to include beliefs on par with the belief in a Supreme Being. Did he meet one on the date of his death?

[Dan Schiavetta]

Tom Clark grew -- from being Hank Ziffel's younger, smarter brother (that great sitcom "Green Acres") to being more forward thinking than the man who appointed him.

Also of note is that LBJ was determined to name the first black Justice. With no retirements in the offing, he named Ramsay Clark as his A.G., forcing Tom Clark to resign due to obvious future recusals. That allowed LBJ to name Thurgood Marshall.

Reagan gets credit for naming the first female Justice, but that credit is entirely undeserved. LBJ would have done it, or Carter, but neither got the chance.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

The current Senator Kennedy reminds me of Mr. Haney from Green Acres.

[bye]

NO, bad thinking there
"Tom C. Clark's law review endorsement of applying Griswold to abortion”

There is a fundamental right to marry, maintain a home, and a family. This is an area where we have the right to be left alone. —Justice Tom C. Clark

Okay but taking an innocent human life is not such an area.

The man does not impress me -- and all these years later we are losing a truckload of rights because of the disastrous decline in births

Declining fertility rates and the threat to human rights
Jennifer VenisMonday 28 March 2022
https://www.ibanet.org/Declining-fertility-rates-and-the-threat-to-human-rights