Today in Supreme Court History: November 22, 1963

11/22/1963: President Lyndon B. Johnson takes the oath of office. He would appoint two Justices to the Supreme Court: Abe Fortas and Thurgood Marshall.

President Johnson appointed Justices Fortas and Marshall

Comments

[AmosArch]

'I'll have those N455ers voting Democratic for the next 200 years!'
Prog hero LBJ.

[Frank Drackman]

Like Ronaldus Maximus and his "Welfare Queen" comment there's no documentation LBJ ever said that, but hey, don't let facts get in the way it's a great story!!!

[AmosArch]

It absolutely fits with LBJ's personality and other known incidents and comes from a storied highly accomplished professional journalist but is not true because we don't have it captured directly on 8k 2 million bit Ultra HD video from at least 3 different independent notarized cryptologically vetted and verified sources from at least 3 different independent angles and times. Every 'anonymous source' allegation about trump however should automatically be believed!

[Krychek_2]

Assuming LBJ actually said that (and I have my doubts), today, the Republican Party has a not-too-subtle open racist in the White House and is doing everything it can to reverse all the progress Black people have gained in the past 50 years. So it's a bit rich for that party or anyone who supports it to accuse the Democrats of racism.

Further, given a choice between a party that tries to improve the lot of Black people out of cynical political calculation, versus a party that opposes any progress for Black people, I'll take the former.

And finally, since the Southern racists who used to vote Democrat back when the Democratic Party was racist have now switched sides and handed the South to the GOP, if that was LBJ's calculation it didn't work out well. Rather, it would appear the Democrats did the right thing at their cost. Can you give an example of the GOP similarly doing the right thing even though it cost them politically?

[Frank Drackman]

Easy, the Pro-Life movement.

[Krychek_2]

You seriously think it's racist for black women to not need preachers and politicians, who are disproportionately white and male, to make their reproductive decisions for them? And if a black woman chooses to abort a fetus it wasn't because the fetus was black.

[Frank Drackman]

I answered your question! I answered the darned... I'm cooperatin' here! I answered your darned question, darn tootin, sorry if you don't like the answer, well if you're so nosy, I'll just do a lot inventory!

[not guilty]

Prick Nixon's "Southern Strategy" was designed to appeal to ancestral Democrats who had voted for Governor George Wallace in 1968. It worked amazingly well.

It is anomalous that Gov. Wallace, a Democrat, is the godfather of today's Republican Party.

[Frank Drackman]

Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Mr. Kot-Tair!!,
I've got a better "Today in Surpreme Court History", sorry it's a day late, I was sick, I've got a letter from Horshack's Mother.

November 21, 1922 First Woman United States Senator was Sworn into Orifice.
Apologize for the lack of detail, my Dog ate that part of the letter.
But I'll give you this much, she resigned before serving her entire term, and had another similarity to MTG.
Rest is up to you to figure out, First Woman US Senator, should be a pretty commonly known nugget among this group of Over Educated Eggheads.

Frank

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Judge Sarah Hughes swore in LBJ.

JFK chose her when she was 65. He worried that she was too old, but it helped that she had allies in high places, including LBJ. She served the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas.

Hughes retired as an active federal judge in 1975 but continued serving as a senior judge until 1982. That's a decent run, significantly longer than one of JFK's justices, who (ill-advisedly) resigned after a few years.

Justice Arthur Goldberg is noted for his Ninth Amendment focused (his clerk, Stephen Breyer, helped write it) opinion in Griswold v. Connecticut. Sarah Hughes wrote the (per curiam) three judge district court opinion of Roe v. Wade.

Linda Coffee, her former clerk, argued the case on one side with Sarah Weddington. Coffee is still alive. As is Stephen Breyer.

[not guilty]

I have read long ago -- I can't remember where -- that Lyndon Johnson persuaded Justice Arthur Goldberg to accept appointment as Ambassador to the United Nations by appealing to Goldberg's affinity and support for Israel, suggesting that he could make a difference there. (And Goldberg, perhaps foolishly, agreed.)

Of course LBJ's actual motive was to create a vacancy for his nomination of Abe Fortas, his longtime friend and adviser.

[steeltown lad]

Was privileged to take a class from Arthur Goldberg who was a visiting professor for a semester at the law school, must have been 1976. And yes he told that very story, "worst mistake I ever made", i.e., to step down from the Court. Johnson pressured him to take over at the UN and use his stature to defend Johnson's Vietnam policies in the world tribunal, according to Goldberg.
And, taking the class...man, was that guy brilliant.