Today in Supreme Court History: January 3, 1911

1/3/1911: Justice Willis Van Devanter takes oath.

Justice Willis Van Devanter

Comments

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Today is an anniversary of a footnote in the story of the case that foreshadowed that SCOTUS would overturn Roe v. Wade.

On January 3, 2022, the Center filed a petition for a writ of mandamus, requesting that the U.S. Supreme Court order the Fifth Circuit to remand the case to the district court. On January 20, the Court denied the request in a 6-3 vote. Justice Sotomayor, who authored the dissent and was joined by Justices Breyer and Kagan, wrote, “This case is a disaster for the rule of law and a grave disservice to women in Texas, who have a right to control their own bodies. I will not stand by silently as a State continues to nullify this constitutional guarantee.”

https://reproductiverights.org/cases/texas-abortion-ban-whole-womans-health-jackson/

OTD in 1911, Bailey v. Alabama was decided. This was one of the "peonage cases" involving what amounted to debt slavery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bailey_v._Alabaman.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

You got an extra "n" tacked on there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bailey_v._Alabama

[Syd Henderson]

The Peonage Act was passed all the way back on March 2, 1867, specifically to end peonage in New Mexico Territory but really to end it in the whole United States. Peonage was a holdover from when New Mexico was part of Mexico (which oddly seems to have abolished slavery but not debt servitude). The Alabama case should have been moot under the Peonage Act, but it was good to have it spelled out.