Today in Supreme Court History: February 24, 1930

2/24/1930: Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes takes oath.

Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes

Comments

[JoeFromtheBronx]

FDR nicknamed him "Charles the Baptist."

Two notable opinions were decided OTD.

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (decided February 24, 1969): being in school does not suspend students’ First Amendment rights (students were told to remove black armbands protesting the Vietnam War).

Justice Black dissented, showing the limitations of his First Amendment absolutism. Mary Tinker, in particular, continued to be an activist and regularly gave talks.

Later cases involved trickier challenges involving where to draw the line when regulating school activity.

Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46 (decided February 24, 1988): First Amendment prohibits Jerry Falwell as a “public figure” from bringing an intentional infliction of emotional distress claim against Hustler for “parody” of his life, absent “actual malice” (knowledge of falsity, which you can never prove if it’s a parody).

The case involves a parody involving an outhouse and incest. Flynt is known for his nuanced humor. Traditionally, this sort of thing could have been treated as unprotected obscenity, but (correctly so) we protect free speech more broadly these days.

Rehnquist, who had a sense of humor, wrote the decision. As our former diarist notes, the film version glorifies Larry Flynt a tad much.

https://www.captcrisis.com/post/today-in-supreme-court-history-february-24-2