Marin K Levy
@marinklevy
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Professor of Law, @DukeLaw ; Academic Director of @BolchJudicial . Mother of sons & spinner of ⚖️🧵s. See, also, @marinklevy .bsky.social and 🧵 @marinklevy
Durham, NC
Joined January 2017
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Our book now has a cover . . . be still my heart! ❤️
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50 years ago this month, Columbia Law School hired its 1st woman tenured law professor in its history.
The professor?
Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
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Two years ago on this day – Sept. 18th – Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away.
(May her memory be a blessing.)
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So we know that Griswold v. CT was the landmark case that established the constitutional right to contraception for married couples.
And we know who CT is. But who was Griswold?
Well, that would be Estelle Griswold – and you're going to love her, I just know it . . .
(⚖️🧵⏰)
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On this day - August 3rd - in 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was confirmed to a seat on the Supreme Court by a vote of 96 to 3.
(Let’s say that last part again - by a vote of 96 to 3.)
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Justice Kagan, Monday night:
"Judges create legitimacy problems for themselves . . . when they instead stray into places where it looks like they're an extension of the political process or when they're imposing their own personal preferences."
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So this week, forty-one years after Stelle Griswold passed away, I say . . .
Here's to remembering and celebrating those who fought for the rights of others –
And here's to remembering and celebrating those who fought to change the world. ❤️
(fin)
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Here is an end-of-Term story that I love so well (and hope you will too).
Nearly 50 years ago, (now Judge) Marsha Berzon was finishing up her year clerking for the great Justice Brennan (the 1st woman to do so).
She brought her 3-year-old 👦 on her last day to say goodbye . . .
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Thirty years ago on this day — June 14th — President Bill Clinton nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court.
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Justice Sotomayor’s Princeton Yearbook photo.
And her senior quote?
“I am not a champion of lost causes, but of causes not yet won.”
(Norman Thomas)
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If this is not a model of judicial temperament on display, I don't know what is.
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Thinking of Justice Ginsburg on what would have been her 90th birthday.
(On this day – March 15th – in 1933, Joan Ruth Bader was born.)
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“What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.” - Rushdie
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Thirty years ago today — July 20th — we see Ruth Bader Ginsburg being sworn in during the first day of her confirmation hearing.
Marty Ginsburg is beaming behind her. ❤️
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You may recall the extraordinary Sarah Hughes . . .
She was one of the first women to serve as a federal judge (and the only woman to swear in a President).
What you may not know is that in 1970, she was part of the Three-Judge District Court that heard Roe v. Wade . . . (⚖️🧵)
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So this is a lovely little something –
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. bequeathed a portion of his estate to the United States.
Congress then used that gift to do two important things . . .
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To the student who quoted Alanis Morissette on the Remedies final exam, I see you, and I salute you.
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Did you know that law schools didn't used to award the J.D. (Juris Doctor) but instead a degree called the LL.B.?
That's short for "Legum Baccalaureus," which is the fancy Latin designation for Bachelor of Laws.
And I promise, its history is delightful . . .
(⚖️🎓🧵)
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If referring to yourself as the First Woman On The Supreme Court is not a drop-the-mic moment, I honestly don't know what is. 🎤
You can read this epic *bench slap* in all its glory right here 👇
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TFW you try to be *so careful* for an entire year, you are on the cusp of getting vaccinated...and you somehow end up testing positive for covid.
Please send well wishes and Judicial Fun Facts.
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My heart is wide open for this story tonight . . .
It’s about how Justice William Brennan, the liberal lion 🦁, was convinced to hire his first woman law clerk and who that clerk was.
(Hint: She’s a judge now herself.)
Our ⚖️ 🧵 starts now . . .
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This is quite a statement from Judge Jed Rakoff about the current Supreme Court in his review of the new Justice Frankfurter biography:
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A lovely idea posted by a friend: Fear of COVID19 is keeping folks from restaurants, which usually operate on small margins. Consider purchasing a gift certificate from your favorite restaurant so it gets the use of your money now. When things settle down, go out to celebrate!
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50 years ago, the Supreme Court recognized the right of all people – married and single alike – to purchase and use contraception.
The case in which they did so? Eisenstadt v. Baird.
And how did that case come about? It began with this electric moment right here . . .
(⚖️🧵)
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On this day – August 8th – in 2009, Sonia Sotomayor was sworn in as the 99th Associate Justice (in front of her mother and brother). ❤️
(📸 by Jim Young/Reuters)
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After the Supreme Court's decision came down, Stelle & Lee reopened their clinic in New Haven. ⚕️
It was later renamed the Griswold-Buxton Clinic in their honor.
(And here they are in Oct. 1965, receiving awards from Planned Parenthood for all that they did. ⬇️)
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One year ago today — June 30th — Justice Jackson took the oaths of office to become the 104th Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. ❤️
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Thinking of this great lady – the one and only Justice Sonia Sotomayor – on her 68th birthday.
(📷 by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders)
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41 years ago this week, Justice O'Connor asked her very first question at oral argument.
She waited until counsel for Respondents was up in a case called Watt v. Energy Action Ed. Foundation.
"Mr. Silard, may I ask you –"
She was promptly cut off . . .
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This lady right here is my Mom.
She graduated from
@MIT
in 1972 – 1 of only 63 women in a class of ≈ 1,000. (One Prof referred to all the students as gentlemen since women "didn't belong.")
She is attending her 50th reunion as one of the speakers – we couldn't be prouder! ❤️
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55 years ago on this day, Aug. 30th, Thurgood Marshall was confirmed as the 96th Justice – and the first Black Justice – of the United States Supreme Court.
The Senate vote, which came after nearly 6 hours of speeches, was 69 to 11.
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Oh, we have a special story today – this one is about Jane Bolin, an extraordinary person who was the very first black woman to become a Judge in U.S. history.
A ⚖️🧵 all about Judge Bolin and her amazing life is coming your way in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .
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After their convictions were upheld in Connecticut state courts, Griswold and Buxton appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. 🏛️
The result was Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), in which the Court struck down the 1879 law in a 7-2 decision that established a new right to privacy.
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Okay, so, nearly every state has a court of last resort that is styled that state's "Supreme Court."
- But not New York 🍎 –
As you may know, their highest court is the "New York State Court of Appeals." But do you know why?
Today’s mini ⚖️ 🧵 has the story . . .
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So back in October of 1983, one Justice Sandra D. O'Connor decided to write a letter to the editor of The New York Times 📰 . . . and boy is it a good one . . .
(the tiniest of ⚖️🧵s)
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On this day - May 26th - in 2009, President Obama announced then Second Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor as his choice to replace retiring Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. ❤️
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On this day — July 9th — 155 years ago, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified.
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On this day – November 13th – in 1856, the great Louis Dembitz Brandeis was born.
Sixty years later, he would become the first Jewish Justice to sit on the Supreme Court. 🏛️
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This is what happens when
1) your 5-year-old wakes up with an earache
2) on the day you are scheduled to have your faculty photo taken and
3) you have the nicest photographer in the world:
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There are many gems in the Harvard Law Review tribute to Justice Breyer ...
... including this laugh-out-loud funny footnote by his brother, Judge Breyer:
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Is it time? ⏲️
I have been waiting *all day* to tell you the story of Sarah T. Hughes –
1st woman federal judge in Texas, 3rd in the federal judiciary as a whole, and the only woman to have sworn in a U.S. President (as you might recall). 👇
Let the thread commence...
(⚖️🧵)
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In the closing lines of the opinion for the Court . . .
"We deal with a right of privacy older than the Bill of Rights – older than our political parties . . . Marriage is a coming together for better or for worse, hopefully enduring, and intimate to the degree of being sacred."
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#OTD
January 31, 2006, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor retired from the Court.
She said upon her confirmation in 1981: "I think the important fact about my appointment is not that I will decide cases as a woman but that I am a woman who will get to decide cases."
(h/t
@SCHSociety
)
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Thirty years ago today – on June 29, 1992 – the Supreme Court handed down the decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
"The essential holding of Roe v. Wade should be retained and once again reaffirmed."
(More from the contemporaneous
@nytimes
coverage ⬇️)
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With the Super Bowl in sight 🏈, we would be remiss not to talk about the one Justice who was also a professional football player . . . that would be Justice Byron “Whizzer” White.
(He was also the first SCOTUS clerk to later become a Justice himself!)
His ⚖️🧵 starts now . . .
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On this day – July 2nd – in 1908, Thoroughgood Marshall was born.
Did you know that he was named for his paternal grandfather? (Who in turn chose the name when he enlisted as a private in the Union Army during the Civil War?)
"Thurgood" was actually a nickname . . .
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Now enter Estelle Griswold . . .
Stelle, as she was known, settled in CT with her husband in 1950. (They wanted children but never had any.)
She joined Planned Parenthood of CT and soon became its Executive Director. And she developed a reputation for being "feisty" . . . 😉
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Like others before them, Griswold & Buxton lobbied the CT General Assembly to repeal the ban. When their efforts failed, they took more drastic action.
In 1961, they decided to break the law by opening a Planned Parenthood Clinic in New Haven to dispense birth control . . . 🏥
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“The nature of fundamental rights is that it’s not left up to state legislatures to decide whether to honor them or not."
-Solicitor General Prelogar
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The lawyer who (successfully) argued the case for Mr. Wiesenfeld? RBG. 👑
And when RBG joined the Supreme Court in 1993, Berzon wrote to congratulate her & explain the Wiesenfeld connection. 💌
And 7 years later, Marsha Berzon became a Judge herself on the 9th Circuit. ❤️
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Stelle organized "border runs" – shuttling women seeking information about birth control to clinics in New York & Rhode Island. 🚐
Not stopping there, she enlisted the help of Dr. C. Lee Buxton, chair of
@Yale
's Dept. of Gynecology & Obstetrics, to challenge the 1879 law . . .
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Judicial Fun Fact of the Day:
Did you know that for a time, J.D. Salinger's best friend was . . . Learned Hand?! (🔖+⚖️)
It's true! In 1953, Salinger moved to Cornish, New Hampshire, where he was Hand's neighbor. And Hand apparently became the author's closest friend!❤️
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Within days police raided the clinic. (Griswold was apparently "overjoyed" to see them and offered up the clinic's pamphlets.)
Griswold & Buxton were arrested and charged with helping to violate the 1879 act. They were later convicted in a 1-day bench trial and fined $100. 🧑⚖️
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Thirty years ago on this day – March 12th – Janet Reno was confirmed as the country’s very first woman Attorney General . . .
by a vote of 98 to 0!
(Here she is leaving the White House with the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee – one Joe Biden.)
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On the list of accomplishments to celebrate today . . .
#OTD
in 2010, Elena Kagan was sworn in as the 100th Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
AND the 4th woman (following Justices O'Connor, Ginsburg, and Sotomayor). 👩⚖️
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This gentleman right here is Alton Toussaint Lemon, for whom the famed "Lemon Test" was named.
With your indulgence, I offer a brief ⚖️🧵 on him, and the monumentally important Establishment Clause case that he was part of over fifty years ago . . .
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I’m just a Civ Pro professor, about to teach in rem jurisdiction to my students, asking them not to hate me.
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I truly wonder what some of the Justices must be thinking upon reading this op-ed by Pope Francis today:
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As you may know, in early 1994, Justice Ginsburg and Justice Scalia went on a judicial exchange to India (📷 below).
But my favorite part of the story is what Marty Ginsburg was up to while his wife was away . . .
(Mini ⚖️🧵)
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Allow me to kindly introduce you to the State Law Library of Iowa. 📚
It lives on the second floor of the State Capitol building - and moved into its current digs all the way back in 1886 ...
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So today is my 40th birthday. 🎂 But enough about me! 😉 I want to talk about another birthday girl - this amazing woman right here, Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Amalya L. Kearse. (mini ⚖️🧵)
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So I honestly *cannot wait* to tell you the story of . . .
⭐️ The First Woman to Clerk on the Supreme Court! ⭐️
It involves World War II, a distinguished heroine, and one William O. Douglas. Are you ready for it?
(⚖️🧵)
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In honor of Antonin Scalia's birthday tomorrow, I have to retell my first - and favorite - ⚖️🧵.
It starts a little something like this . . .
"Okay, I think it's time I told you about the night I tried to buy Justice Scalia a drink."
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Okay, so it seems that not everyone knows that Chief Justice William Rehnquist proposed - marriage 💍- to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in the 1950s, so let’s go ahead and fix that.
A mini ❤️⚖️🧵 . . .
(
@EricColumbus
, this one's for you)
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Then and now . . .
On the left, the Supreme Court's very first "class photo" from 1867.
On the right, the newest edition of the group portrait, just released.
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Timeline cleanse: RBG on her first day as a Justice - Oct. 1, 1993.
(📷 credit Jose R. Lopez /
@nytimes
)
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Well this is my favorite line ever - from the Supreme Court's Guide to Counsel:
"If you are in doubt about the name of a Justice who is addressing you, it is better to use 'Your Honor' than to address the Justice by another Justice's name." 😂
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Marsha Berzon went on to have a remarkable career of her own – and was appointed by President Clinton to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2000. 👩⚖️
So here’s to doing the right thing, to the people who push us to get there, and to the people who make it all worth while.
(fin)
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Before we meet "Stelle," a little history . . .
In 1879, Connecticut enacted a law that prohibited the use of "any drug, medicine, article, or instrument" for "the purpose of preventing conception."
Seriously.
And in the decades that followed, it remained on the books . . . 📚
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Ah this footnote from Judge Calabresi in his dissent today 💔:
"I write just for myself. As to Judge Katzmann, I can do no more than express my sorrow that we're left only (if one can say only of something so precious) with memories and his great contributions to the law."
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As we enter graduation season 🎓, it seems only fitting to share the story of the brave & determined Ada Kepley – aka the first woman in the country to graduate from law school.
(But it's what she did after graduation that's arguably more spectacular.)
Her ⚖️🧵 starts now . . .
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Ten years ago today – June 26th – the Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision in U.S. v. Windsor, holding a key part of the Defense of Marriage Act to be unconstitutional.
(Thea Spyer, left, with her wife (and the lead plaintiff in the case), Edith Windsor.) ❤️
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"Justice Sonia Sotomayor told an audience Wednesday that recent changes in the format of oral arguments were instituted in part after studies emerged showing that female justices on the court were interrupted more by male justices and advocates."
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Who is in the mood to hear the story of the ⭐️First Woman Article III Judge⭐️?
Cuz I am sure in the mood to tell it!
Tonight we meet Judge Florence Allen – a true pathbreaker! (She served on the Ohio Supreme Court *and* the 6th Circuit!)
Mini ⚖️🧵all about her in 3...2...1...
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And at last, most memorably:
"If the right of privacy means anything, it is the right of the individual, married or single, to be free from unwarranted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the decision whether to bear or beget a child."
❤️
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Who is in the mood for a little judicial administration history? Everyone? Just as I suspected.
In light of the new bill to expand SCOTUS, a *big* thread on the relationship between the # of Supreme Court seats and the # of circuits. (⚖️🧵) (1/x)
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In honor of Halloween, a mini ⚖️🧵 about . . .
Mary Bradbury, who was accused and convicted of being a witch in Salem - and who lived to tell the tale.
She is also my great (11 times) grandmother.
Her story now . . . 🧙♀️
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@Harvard_Law
So the next time you read a volume of the History of the Supreme Court (say, tonight) . . .
Or admire the beauty of the Court’s garden . . .
Remember it is thanks to this man, who made then the largest unrestricted gift to the American People — a noble bequest, indeed. ❤️
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Who wants to talk about the history of law clerking? Everybody? Good. Let’s pull up a chair for a little judicial administration history….⚖️🧵 (1/x)
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Alright now. Today marks the 141st anniversary of the *very first time a woman argued before the Supreme Court.* 🏛️
Who was the woman and how did she manage to argue the case in 1880?
Well her name was Belva A. Lockwood and clearly we’re going to need a ⚖️🧵 about it . . .
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Alright Team . . .
With March Madness upon us, it’s time we had a moment for the basketball court that sits atop the Supreme Court – a.k.a., the "Highest Court in the Land."
Start the shot clock, because our 🏀⚖️🧵begins now . . .
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Now *this* is a courthouse . . . 🏛️
If you are not already acquainted, I would be delighted to introduce you to the Old Courthouse in St. Louis.
I know it's impolite to reveal another's age – forgive me – but construction of this Greek Revival building began in 1839 . . .
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Is anyone else wondering what the Chief is looking at? 🧐
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I could not be more honored to be participating in this House Judiciary Committee hearing tomorrow on "The Need for New Lower Court Judgeships, 30 Years in the Making."
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On this day — June 25th — in 1954, Sonia Maria Sotomayor was born.
Happy 69th birthday, Justice Sotomayor! 🎈
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Wonderful news for the Second Circuit!
Confirmed, 49-47: Executive Calendar
#677
Alison J. Nathan to be United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit.
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Today is a historic day at the Court, with the Investiture Ceremony for Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Congratulations, Justice Jackson!
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On this day – July 3rd – in 1903, one of the single greatest jurists of the 20th century was born.
That would be Henry Jacob Friendly.
He served as a Judge for the Second Circuit from 1959–86 and had such clerks as Pierre Leval, Michael Boudin, Merrick Garland and John Roberts.
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Ever wonder about the name Learned Hand?
Well . . .
His full name was Billings Learned Hand.
Hand later dropped "Billings" as he thought it was too pretentious. He asked his classmates to call him "Buck" while his sister & mother called him "Bunny." 🐰
#JudicialFunFact
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How did we possibly miss that the Supreme Court of Canada has a mascot . . . which is an owl . . . named Amicus? 🦉
(🎩tip to the great
@AlyssaESKing
)
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An extra special story for the end of the year . . .
This is the tale of someone who wrote the original complaint in Brown v. Board and later became the first black woman appointed to the Federal Bench.
That's the extraordinary Constance Baker Motley and this is her ⚖️🧵 . . .
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The statements of the Justices following the death of a colleague say so much about the colleague, but also about the author.
Justice Souter’s statement about Justice Stevens in 2019 is a single, remarkable sentence:
“He was the soul of principle and an irreplaceable friend.”
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The Court just granted cert in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co. – about whether "the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment prohibits a state from requiring a corporation to consent to Personal Jurisdiction to do business in the state."
Civ Pro Professors everywhere:
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She said:
"Both of us had childcare problems of our own that year and just having me working on the case with him was obviously confirmation . . . that the ideas and actual practices of people in this country about the appropriate activities of men and women were changing." ❤️
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