On this day in 2000, United States v. Morrison was argued in front of the Supreme Court. Morrison was a constitutional challenge to a section of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) that provided a civil remedy for victims of gender-motivated violence by allowing them to sue for damages in federal court. The … Continue reading This Day in Supreme Court History—January 11, 2000
On this day in 1984, Strickland v. Washington was argued at the Supreme Court. This case considered what it meant for a criminal defendant to have the “effective assistance” of counsel, which the Court had previously ruled the Sixth Amendment required. David Washington waived his right to a jury trial and pleaded guilty to three … Continue reading This Day In Supreme Court History—January 10, 1984
On this day in 1964, one of the Supreme Court’s most significant First Amendment cases, New York Times v. Sullivan, was argued. The case began on March 29, 1960, when a group of civil rights activists ran a full-page fundraising advertisement in the New York Times. Martin Luther King Jr. was facing a trial in … Continue reading This Day in Supreme Court History— January 6, 1964
On this day in 1902, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. was sworn in as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The seat Holmes would occupy for the next thirty years opened up when Justice Horace Gray informed Roosevelt on July 9, 1902, that he was retiring. Roosevelt immediately wrote his close friend Henry … Continue reading This Day In Supreme Court History—December 8, 1902
On this day in 1975, Justice William O. Douglas retired. Appointed in 1939, Douglas’s thirty-six years on the Supreme Court made him the longest serving justice in U.S. history. The brilliant, irascible, and often controversial justice grew up in Yakima, Washington. After graduating from Columbia Law School in 1925, he briefly practiced law before joining … Continue reading This Day in Supreme Court History—November 12, 1975
On this day in 1884 the Supreme Court held in John Elk v. Charles Wilkins that a Native American born in the United States could be denied the right to vote. In 1880, John Elk, a Winnebago Indian, tried to register to vote in Omaha, Nebraska. Charles Wilkins, the local registrar of voters, denied his … Continue reading This Day in Supreme Court History—November 3, 1884
On this day in 2010, the Supreme Court vacated an emergency restraining order preventing the execution of Jeffrey Landrigan. Arizona executed him that day. Landrigan was convicted of first degree felony murder in 1990 and sentenced to death. After years of unsuccessful appeals, on September 15, 2010, the Arizona Supreme Court issued a warrant of … Continue reading This Day in Supreme Court History: October 26, 2010
On this day in 1789, John Jay took the oath to become the first Chief Justice of the United States. Before being chosen by President George Washington to lead the newly formed Supreme Court, Jay was one of the leading figures of early American politics. During the Revolutionary War, he served as President of the … Continue reading This Day in Supreme Court History: October 19, 1789
On this day in 1864, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney died. Taney’s career on the Supreme Court was marked by controversy from the start. Nominated to the Court by President Andrew Jackson in 1835, the Senate initially refused to confirm Taney as an Associate Justice because of his controversial record as Jackson’s Attorney General, particularly … Continue reading This Day in Supreme Court History: October 12, 1864
On this day in 1953, Earl Warren was sworn in as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States. Warren replaced Chief Justice Fred Vinson, who had died of a heart attack on September 8, 1953. When President Dwight Eisenhower nominated the Republican governor of California to become the next Chief Justice, he praised Warren … Continue reading This Day in Supreme Court History: October 5, 1953