Today in Supreme Court History: January 6, 1964

1/6/1964: New York Times Co. v. Sullivan argued.

 

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[JoeFromtheBronx]

Today is the fifth anniversary of the events of 1/6/21.

Senator McConnell later noted (per Heather Cox Richardson):

In a speech after his vote to acquit, McConnell said, “There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day,” but said he must answer for his actions in court. “Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office,” McConnell said. “We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former Presidents are not immune from being held accountable by either one.”

The Supreme Court decided Fischer v. United States, Trump v. Anderson, and Trump v. United States (as fitting a case name as Loving v. Virginia) to address various legal and constitutional issues arising from those events.

Chief Justice Roberts refused to preside over the second impeachment of Donald Trump since it occurred after he left office. That is also a major reason many Republicans voted to acquit.

(Precedent and principle did not require them to do so, but an acquittal can be prudential as much as obligatory.)

As to NYT v. Sullivan, too much discussion of the particulars of the events (arising out of the civil rights movement) might be deemed as too "woke" or "critical race theory" by some people.