1.
Law library
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A law library is a library designed to assist law students, lawyers, judges and their law clerks, and anyone else who wishes to determine the state of the law. Law libraries can be classified as a type of special library because of their focus on providing specialized resources on the law, most law schools around the world have a law library, or in some universities, at least a section of the university library devoted to law. Law libraries can also be found in courts, government departments, private law firms and these countries include but are not limited to Australia, Canada, India, and New Zealand. Law libraries in these countries can be found in law schools, courts, government, private law firms, the largest law library in the United Kingdom is the Bodleian Law Library with a collection of over 550,000 volumes. Outside of England, the largest law library in the British Commonwealth is Osgoode Hall Law Schools at York University in Canada, the earliest common law law libraries were founded in the late 15th century in London and include Grays Inn and Lincolns Inn. The largest law libraries in the world are found in the United States, the worlds largest law library is the Law Library of Congress, which holds over 2.9 million volumes. The worlds largest academic law library is the library of Harvard Law School, by way of contrast, the largest law library in the United Kingdom is the Bodleian Law Library with a collection of over 550,000 volumes. Broadly speaking, there are three categories of law libraries in the United States, every law school accredited by the American Bar Association houses a law library. Public law libraries are available in states, often in the local courthouses. A typical law library holds a number of works not seen in other libraries, including a full set of United States Reports. Most academic law library websites also contain legal research guidelines on numerous legal topics that are available to the public, a number of law libraries have therefore reduced the availability of printed works that can easily be found on the Internet, and have increased their own Internet availability. On the other hand, some university law libraries retain extensive historical collections going back to the earliest English reports, many law libraries also participate in the Federal Depository Library Program which provides access to government information and documents to the public at no cost. This is particularly true of law school libraries as the library at any accredited law school is eligible to become a depository library under the Program. Most law libraries are members of the American Association of Law Libraries, as of 2010, the Association has over 5,000 member libraries. Another important association for law libraries is the Special Libraries Association, some law school libraries are kept in the same building as the general library, but many are either in the law schools building, or in a separate facility altogether. S. The ABA also requires a collection to meet the academic needs of the students and research. The ABA also requires that the library have sufficient staff and facilities to attend to the needs of the institution, many academic law librarians participate in the AALL and specifically the Academic Law Libraries special interest section. Public law libraries are available in states, and many courthouses also have a law library
2.
Law report
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Law reports or reporters are series of books that contain judicial opinions from a selection of case law decided by courts. When a particular judicial opinion is referenced, the law report series in which the opinion is printed will determine the case citation format, the term reporter was originally used to refer to the individual persons who actually compile, edit, and publish such opinions. For example, the Reporter of Decisions for the U. S. Supreme Court is the person authorized to publish the Courts cases in the volumes of the United States Reports. In American English, reporter also denotes the books themselves, in the Commonwealth, these are described by the plural term law reports, the title that usually appears on the covers of the periodical parts and the individual volumes. In common law countries, court opinions are binding under the rule of stare decisis. That rule requires a court to apply a principle that was set forth earlier by a court of a superior jurisdiction dealing with a similar set of facts. Thus, the publication of such opinions is important so that everyone—lawyers, judges. Official law reports or reporters are those authorized for publication by statute or other governmental ruling, governments designate law reports as official to provide an authoritative, consistent, and authentic statement of a jurisdictions primary law. Official case law publishing may be carried out by a government agency, unofficial law reports, on the other hand, are not officially sanctioned and are published as a commercial enterprise. In Australia and New Zealand, official reports are called authorised reports - unofficial are referred to as unauthorised reports, some commercial publishers also provide court opinions in searchable online databases that are part of larger fee-based, online legal research systems, such as Westlaw, Lexis-Nexis and Justis. But once a court opinion is officially published, case citation rules usually require a person to cite to the official reports, a good printed law report in traditional form usually contains the following items, - • The citation reference. • A recital of the facts of the case, • A note of the arguments of counsel before the judge. The development of the Internet created the opportunity for courts to publish their decisions on Web sites and this is a relatively low cost publication method compared to paper and makes court decisions more easily available to the public. Because a court can post a decision on a Web site as soon as it is rendered, Decisions of courts from all over the world can now be found through the WorldLII Web site, and the sites of its member organizations. These projects have strongly encouraged by the Free Access to Law Movement. Many law librarians and academics have commented on the system of legal information delivery - brought about by the rapid growth of the World Wide Web. Professor Bob Berring writes that the primacy of the old paper sets is fading, in theory, court decisions posted on the Web expand access to the law beyond the specialized law library collections used primarily by lawyers and judges. The general public can more readily find court opinions online, whether posted on Web-accessible databases, questions remain, however, on the need for a uniform and practical citation format for cases posted on the Web
3.
Supreme Court of the United States
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The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest federal court of the United States. In the legal system of the United States, the Supreme Court is the interpreter of federal constitutional law. The Court normally consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight justices who are nominated by the President. Once appointed, justices have life tenure unless they resign, retire, in modern discourse, the justices are often categorized as having conservative, moderate, or liberal philosophies of law and of judicial interpretation. Each justice has one vote, and while many cases are decided unanimously, the Court meets in the United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, D. C. The Supreme Court is sometimes referred to as SCOTUS, in analogy to other acronyms such as POTUS. The ratification of the United States Constitution established the Supreme Court in 1789 and its powers are detailed in Article Three of the Constitution. The Supreme Court is the court specifically established by the Constitution. The Court first convened on February 2,1790, by which five of its six initial positions had been filled. According to historian Fergus Bordewich, in its first session, he Supreme Court convened for the first time at the Royal Exchange Building on Broad Street and they had no cases to consider. After a week of inactivity, they adjourned until September, the sixth member was not confirmed until May 12,1790. Because the full Court had only six members, every decision that it made by a majority was made by two-thirds. However, Congress has always allowed less than the Courts full membership to make decisions, under Chief Justices Jay, Rutledge, and Ellsworth, the Court heard few cases, its first decision was West v. Barnes, a case involving a procedural issue. The Courts power and prestige grew substantially during the Marshall Court, the Marshall Court also ended the practice of each justice issuing his opinion seriatim, a remnant of British tradition, and instead issuing a single majority opinion. Also during Marshalls tenure, although beyond the Courts control, the impeachment, the Taney Court made several important rulings, such as Sheldon v. Nevertheless, it is primarily remembered for its ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford, which helped precipitate the Civil War. In the Reconstruction era, the Chase, Waite, and Fuller Courts interpreted the new Civil War amendments to the Constitution, during World War II, the Court continued to favor government power, upholding the internment of Japanese citizens and the mandatory pledge of allegiance. Nevertheless, Gobitis was soon repudiated, and the Steel Seizure Case restricted the pro-government trend, the Warren Court dramatically expanded the force of Constitutional civil liberties. It held that segregation in public schools violates equal protection and that traditional legislative district boundaries violated the right to vote
4.
United States Government Publishing Office
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The United States Government Publishing Office is an agency of the legislative branch of the United States federal government. Following signature by the President, the change took effect on December 17,2014, the Government Publishing Office was created by congressional joint resolution on June 23,1860. It began operations March 4,1861, with 350 employees, for its entire history, GPO has occupied the corner of North Capitol Street NW and H Street NW in the District of Columbia. An additional structure was attached to its north in later years, the activities of GPO are defined in the public printing and documents chapters of Title 44 of the United States Code. The Public Printer, who serves as the head of GPO, is appointed by the President with the advice, the Public Printer selects a Superintendent of Documents. The Superintendent of Documents is in charge of the dissemination of information at the GPO, adelaide Hasse was the founder of the Superintendent of Documents classification system. GPO first used 100 percent recycled paper for the Congressional Record and Federal Register from 1991-1997, under Public Printers Robert Houk, GPO resumed using recycled paper in 2009. In March 2011, GPO issued a new illustrated official history covering the agencys 150 years of Keeping America Informed, following signature of this legislation by President Barack Obama, the name change took place on December 17,2014. By law, the Public Printer heads the GPO, Public Printers, Almon M. Clapp John D. Defrees Sterling P. Rounds Thomas E. Benedict Frank W. Palmer Thomas E. Benedict Frank W. Palmer, O. J. Tapella William J. United States Code United States Statutes at Large House Journal, the United States Department of State began issuing e-passports in 2006. GPO produces the blank e-Passport, while the Department of State receives and processes applications, GPO ceased production of legacy passports in May 2007, shifting production entirely to e-passports. In March 2008, the Washington Times published a story about the outsourcing of electronic passports to overseas companies. GPO designs, prints, encodes and personalizes Trusted Traveler Program cards for the Department of Homeland Security, Customs, cumulative Copyright Catalogs Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion Official Records of the American Civil War US Congressional Serial Set United States. Military Information Division, p. Publications, Issues 33-34, slocum, Carl Reichmann, Adna Romanga Chaffee. Reports on military operations in South Africa and China, cS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list Stephan LH. Slocum, Carl Reichmann, Adna Romanza Chaffee, United States, Reports on military operations in South Africa and China. CS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list United States, Bureau of Foreign Commerce, United States. Commercial relations of the United States with foreign countries during the years, cS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list United States
5.
Bluebook
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The Bluebook, A Uniform System of Citation, a style guide, prescribes the most widely used legal citation system in the United States. The Bluebook is compiled by the Harvard Law Review Association, the Columbia Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, currently, it is in its 20th edition. It is so named because its cover is blue, the Bluebook is taught and used at a majority of U. S. law schools, and is also used in a majority of U. S. federal courts. Alternative legal citation style guides exist, including the Maroonbook and the ALWD Citation Manual, there are also several house citation styles used by legal publishers in their works. The U. S. Supreme Court uses its own unique style in its opinions, even though most of the justices. Furthermore, many courts have their own citation rules that take precedence over The Bluebook for documents filed with those courts. Some of the rules are simple modifications to The Bluebook system. In other states, notably New York, Texas, and Michigan, since 2008, California rules of court have allowed citations in Bluebook form as well as the states own style manual. An online subscription version of The Bluebook was launched in 2008, according to a recent study however, by two Yale librarians, Fred R. Shapiro and Julie Graves Krishnaswami, and their considerable archival research, Harvards and Griswolds claim is incorrect. They trace the origin of The Bluebook to a 1920 publication by Karl N. Llewellyn at Yale on how to write law journal materials for the Yale Law Journal, eventually, Harvard reversed course and joined the coalition by 1926. The cover of the 1926 A Uniform System of Citation was green, the color was brown from the second edition through the fifth edition. It was only with the edition that it became blue. In 1939, the cover of the book was changed from brown to a more patriotic blue allegedly to avoid comparison with an associated with Nazi Germany. The eleventh edition, published in 1967, was white with a blue border. The cover color returned to blue in the edition of 1976. The full text of the first through the editions are available on the official website. The Bluebook uses two different styles, the first is used by practitioners in preparing court documents and memoranda, while the second is used primarily in academic settings, such as law reviews and journals. The latter uses specific formatting to identify types of references, such as the use of caps for books, newspapers
6.
Brown v. Board of Education
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The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation, insofar as it applied to public education. Handed down on May 17,1954, the Warren Courts unanimous decision stated that educational facilities are inherently unequal. As a result, de jure segregation was ruled a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. This ruling paved the way for integration and was a victory of the Civil Rights Movement. For much of the sixty years preceding the Brown case, race relations in the United States had been dominated by racial segregation, racial segregation in education varied widely from the 17 states that required racial segregation to the 16 in which it was prohibited. Brown was influenced by UNESCOs 1950 Statement, signed by a variety of internationally renowned scholars. This declaration denounced previous attempts at scientifically justifying racism as well as morally condemning racism, another work that the Supreme Court cited was Gunnar Myrdals An American Dilemma, The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy. Myrdal had been a signatory of the UNESCO declaration, the research performed by the educational psychologists Kenneth B. Clark and Mamie Phipps Clark also influenced the Courts decision. The Clarks doll test studies presented substantial arguments to the Supreme Court about how segregation affected black schoolchildrens mental status, the plaintiffs were thirteen Topeka parents on behalf of their 20 children. The suit called for the district to reverse its policy of racial segregation. The plaintiffs had been recruited by the leadership of the Topeka NAACP, notable among the Topeka NAACP leaders were the chairman McKinley Burnett, Charles Scott, one of three serving as legal counsel for the chapter, and Lucinda Todd. The named plaintiff, Oliver L. Brown, was a parent, a welder in the shops of the Santa Fe Railroad, an assistant pastor at his church. He was convinced to join the lawsuit by Scott, a childhood friend, as directed by the NAACP leadership, the parents each attempted to enroll their children in the closest neighborhood school in the fall of 1951. They were each refused enrollment and directed to the segregated schools, linda Brown Thompson later recalled the experience in a 2004 PBS documentary. Like I say, we lived in a neighborhood and I had all of these playmates of different nationalities. And so when I found out that day that I might be able to go to their school, I was just thrilled, you know. And I remember walking over to Sumner school with my dad that day and going up the steps of the school, and I remember going inside and my dad spoke with someone and then he went into the inner office with the principal and they left me out. To sit outside with the secretary, and while he was in the inner office, I could hear voices and hear his voice raised, you know, as the conversation went on
7.
Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania /ˌpɛnsᵻlˈveɪnjə/, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state located in the northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The Appalachian Mountains run through its middle, Pennsylvania is the 33rd largest, the 5th most populous, and the 9th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The states five most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, the state capital, and its ninth-largest city, is Harrisburg. Pennsylvania has 140 miles of shoreline along Lake Erie and the Delaware Estuary. The state is one of the 13 original founding states of the United States, it came into being in 1681 as a result of a land grant to William Penn. Part of Pennsylvania, together with the present State of Delaware, had earlier been organized as the Colony of New Sweden and it was the second state to ratify the United States Constitution, on December 12,1787. Independence Hall, where the United States Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution were drafted, is located in the states largest city of Philadelphia, during the American Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, was fought in the south central region of the state. Valley Forge near Philadelphia was General Washingtons headquarters during the winter of 1777–78. Pennsylvania is 170 miles north to south and 283 miles east to west, of a total 46,055 square miles,44,817 square miles are land,490 square miles are inland waters, and 749 square miles are waters in Lake Erie. It is the 33rd largest state in the United States, Pennsylvania has 51 miles of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary. Cities include Philadelphia, Reading, Lebanon and Lancaster in the southeast, Pittsburgh in the southwest, the tri-cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, the northeast includes the former anthracite coal mining communities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston City, and Hazleton. Erie is located in the northwest, the state has 5 regions, namely the Allegheny Plateau, Ridge and Valley, Atlantic Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and the Erie Plain. Straddling two major zones, the majority of the state, with the exception of the corner, has a humid continental climate. The largest city, Philadelphia, has characteristics of the humid subtropical climate that covers much of Delaware. Moving toward the interior of the state, the winter climate becomes colder, the number of cloudy days increase. Western areas of the state, particularly locations near Lake Erie, can receive over 100 inches of snowfall annually, the state may be subject to severe weather from spring through summer into fall. Tornadoes occur annually in the state, sometimes in large numbers, the Tuscarora Nation took up temporary residence in the central portion of Pennsylvania ca. Both the Dutch and the English claimed both sides of the Delaware River as part of their lands in America
8.
Alexander J. Dallas (statesman)
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Alexander James Dallas was an American statesman who served as the U. S. Treasury Secretary under President James Madison. Dallas was born in Kingston, Jamaica, to Dr. Robert Charles Dallas, when he was five his family moved to Edinburgh and then to London. There he studied under James Elphinston and he planned to study law, but was unable to afford it. He married Arabella Maria Smith of Pennsylvania, the daughter of Maj. George Smith of the British Army and Arabella Barlow, in 1780, there he was admitted to the bar through his fathers connections. Marias health suffered in Jamaica and they moved to Philadelphia in 1783 and he was admitted to the bar in 1785. His law practice was slow and on the side he edited the Pennsylvania Herald from 1787 to 1788, when the United States Supreme Court came to Philadelphia in 1791, he would become their first reporter of decisions starting with West v. Barnes. Because the post of reporter was a one, Dallas did his work from his own funds. The volumes, of which he produced only four, were faulted for being incomplete, inaccurate, and extremely tardy. For example, the ruling in Chisholm v. Georgia which prompted the Eleventh Amendment, was not reported by Dallas until five years later. He was a founder of the Democratic-Republican Societies in 1793, governor Thomas Mifflin named Dallas Secretary of the Commonwealth, a post he held from 1791 to 1801. Because Mifflin was an alcoholic, Dallas functioned as de facto governor for much of the late 1790s, Dallas helped found the Democratic-Republican party in Pennsylvania and advocated a strict construction of the new Constitution. In 1801, he was named United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and his friend Albert Gallatin was treasury secretary when the War of 1812 began and Dallas helped Gallatin obtain funds to fight Britain. The war nearly bankrupted the Federal Government by the time Dallas replaced Gallatin as treasury secretary, from March 2,1815 to August 1,1815 he was acting Secretary of War and for a time that year was acting Secretary of State as well. He returned to Philadelphia, but lived only a year and he was a member of the American Philosophical Society from 1791 and a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania. Dallas County, Alabama and Dallas Township, Pennsylvania are named for him, six U. S. Coast Guard Cutters have been named DALLAS, the most recent was USCGC DALLAS. Fort Dallas in Florida and the U. S. Navy ship USS Dallas were named after his son, Alexander J. Dallas, who died during his Navy service. His other son George Mifflin Dallas was Vice President under James K. Polk and one possible namesake for Dallas, Texas, biography and portrait at the University of Pennsylvania Alexander J. Dallas at Find a Grave Alexander J. Dallas, Secretary of War
9.
Philadelphia
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In 1682, William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia was one of the capitals in the Revolutionary War. In the 19th century, Philadelphia became an industrial center. It became a destination for African-Americans in the Great Migration. The areas many universities and colleges make Philadelphia a top international study destination, as the city has evolved into an educational, with a gross domestic product of $388 billion, Philadelphia ranks ninth among world cities and fourth in the nation. Philadelphia is the center of activity in Pennsylvania and is home to seven Fortune 1000 companies. The Philadelphia skyline is growing, with a market of almost 81,900 commercial properties in 2016 including several prominent skyscrapers. The city is known for its arts, culture, and rich history, Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city. Fairmount Park, when combined with the adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the watershed, is one of the largest contiguous urban park areas in the United States. The 67 National Historic Landmarks in the city helped account for the $10 billion generated by tourism, Philadelphia is the only World Heritage City in the United States. Before Europeans arrived, the Philadelphia area was home to the Lenape Indians in the village of Shackamaxon, the Lenape are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government. They are also called Delaware Indians and their territory was along the Delaware River watershed, western Long Island. Most Lenape were pushed out of their Delaware homeland during the 18th century by expanding European colonies, Lenape communities were weakened by newly introduced diseases, mainly smallpox, and violent conflict with Europeans. Iroquois people occasionally fought the Lenape, surviving Lenape moved west into the upper Ohio River basin. The American Revolutionary War and United States independence pushed them further west, in the 1860s, the United States government sent most Lenape remaining in the eastern United States to the Indian Territory under the Indian removal policy. In the 21st century, most Lenape now reside in the US state of Oklahoma, with communities living also in Wisconsin, Ontario. The Dutch considered the entire Delaware River valley to be part of their New Netherland colony, in 1638, Swedish settlers led by renegade Dutch established the colony of New Sweden at Fort Christina and quickly spread out in the valley. In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their defeat of the English colony of Maryland
10.
West v. Barnes
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West v. Barnes,2 U. S.401, was the first United States Supreme Court decision and the earliest case calling for oral argument. Van Staphorst v. Maryland was docketed prior to West v. Barnes but settled before the Court heard the case, West was argued on August 2,1791 and decided on August 3,1791. Collet v. Collet was the first appellate case docketed with the Court but was dropped before it could be heard, the court did not exercise judicial review in deference to the legislature. The court ultimately decided against William West, the petitioner, on procedural grounds, William West was a farmer, revolutionary war militia general, anti-federalist leader, and judge from Scituate, Rhode Island. West owed a mortgage on his farm from a failed molasses deal in 1763 to the Jenckes family from Providence, West made payments on the mortgage for twenty years, and in 1785 asked the state for permission to conduct a lottery to help pay off the remainder. Due to his service during the Revolution, the state granted him permission, much of the proceeds were paid in paper currency instead of gold or silver. West tendered payment in the currency as allowed by state statute by lodging the funds with a state judge to be collected within ten days. Despite lack of training, West represented himself pro se in the circuit court in June 1791 before Chief Justice John Jay, Associate Justice William Cushing. West then attempted to appeal to the Supreme Court on a writ of error, West was unable to make the journey to Philadelphia to represent himself, so he engaged William Bradford, Jr. Pennsylvanias attorney general, to represent him. On appeal, Barnes focused on the procedural irregularities, Barnes asserted that the writ had been signed and sealed only by the clerk of the circuit court in Rhode Island instead of by the Supreme Court clerk, which he claimed as necessary. This was asserted despite the fact that West would have had to make a journey in 1791 to Philadelphia within ten days to do so. West lost on this issue and was eventually forced to relinquish his farm. Perrys The Documentary History of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789-1800, Volume 6, West v. Barnes, in summation the Dallas reporter quoted John Jay and summed up the case holding as follows, West, Plaintiff in error, v. Barnes et al. Justice James Iredell was upset by the statute and wrote to President Washington to change the law which had required that only the clerk of the Supreme Court could issue writs of error. The Judicial Act of 1792 altered the law to prevent such hardships for future litigants, several months after the decision, on November 9,1791, Barnes brought another suit of ejectment to eject West from the mortgaged farm. He filed suit in the Circuit Court for the District of Rhode Island, Justice Jay, Justice Cushing and Judge Henry Marchant held the plea bad for a second time. They decided that William West lodged payment of his debt with a Rhode Island judge on September 16, Barnes eventually won the ejectment case although he had difficulty ejecting Wests family from the farm as West had sold the farm to a son-in-law. Wests estate continued to be disputed after his death resulting in the First Circuit decision, according to Cotter v. Alabama, rior to 1791 it was the practice that a writ of error could only issue from the office of the clerk of the supreme court
11.
Washington, D.C.
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Washington, D. C. formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D. C. is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act on July 16,1790, Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and the District is therefore not a part of any state. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, named in honor of President George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. In 1846, Congress returned the land ceded by Virginia, in 1871. Washington had an population of 681,170 as of July 2016. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington metropolitan area, of which the District is a part, has a population of over 6 million, the centers of all three branches of the federal government of the United States are in the District, including the Congress, President, and Supreme Court. Washington is home to national monuments and museums, which are primarily situated on or around the National Mall. The city hosts 176 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of international organizations, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups. A locally elected mayor and a 13‑member council have governed the District since 1973, However, the Congress maintains supreme authority over the city and may overturn local laws. D. C. residents elect a non-voting, at-large congressional delegate to the House of Representatives, the District receives three electoral votes in presidential elections as permitted by the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961. Various tribes of the Algonquian-speaking Piscataway people inhabited the lands around the Potomac River when Europeans first visited the area in the early 17th century, One group known as the Nacotchtank maintained settlements around the Anacostia River within the present-day District of Columbia. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes forced the relocation of the Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland. 43, published January 23,1788, James Madison argued that the new government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance. Five years earlier, a band of unpaid soldiers besieged Congress while its members were meeting in Philadelphia, known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, the event emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security. However, the Constitution does not specify a location for the capital, on July 9,1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River. The exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, formed from land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles on each side, totaling 100 square miles. Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory, the port of Georgetown, Maryland, founded in 1751, many of the stones are still standing
12.
William Cranch
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William Cranch was an American judge and the second reporter of decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States. Born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, he was a nephew of Abigail Adams and his father was Richard Cranch, an English-born clockmaker and Massachusetts legislator and his mother was Mary Smith, the elder sister of Abigail Smith Adams. His uncle by marriage was John Adams, the second President of the United States and his first cousin was John Quincy Adams, the sixth President. William Cranch graduated from Harvard College with honors in 1787 and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1790, from 1791 to 1800, Cranch worked as a legal agent for a real estate firm in Washington. When land speculation bankrupted him, his uncle John Adams rescued him by appointing him to be Inspector of Public Buildings in 1800, then, in 1801, Cranch was selected as one of the two associate justices for the District of Columbia Circuit Court. The nomination was put forth on February 28,1801, and Cranch was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 3,1801, in 1805, Cranch became a member of the first board of Trustees for Public Schools and served on that board for 7 years. On February 21,1806, President Thomas Jefferson elevated Cranch to Chief Judge of the Circuit Court, Cranchs elevation was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 24,1806. In this role he swore in two Presidents of the United States, John Tyler and Millard Fillmore, each of whom assumed the presidency upon the death of his predecessor, Cranch would hold the position of Chief Judge in the District until his death in 1855. While serving as a Circuit judge, Cranch also served as the reporter of the Supreme Court from 1801 to 1815. At the time, the reporter was an unofficial post and he used his own funds to produce the reports, Cranch took on the responsibility because of his respect for precedent. He was slow in producing his reports of cases and their accuracy was questioned, during his tenure on the court, Cranch published a biography about Adams and edited his own volume of reports on civil and criminal cases from the District. On February 3,1826, the Columbian College board of trustees elected Cranch and William Thomas Carroll, on June 13 of the same year, with President John Quincy Adams in attendance, Professor Cranch delivered the first law lecture in the court room of the City Hall. Cranch died in Washington, DC on September 1,1855 and he was buried at Congressional Cemetery. In 1871, the Cranch Public School Building, named in his honor, opened at the southwest corner of 12th and G, SE in Washington, DC. Cranch was elected an Associated Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1809, Cranch is also known for several decisions that set a precedent for jury nullification, including, United States v. Fenwick,25 F. Cas. 675, Right to make legal argument to jury, stettinius v. United States,22 F. Cas. 573, Right to make legal argument to jury, Cranch also handed down important precedent in a variety of topics, for example in a criminal law case regarding the mens rea of intoxication, Cranch wrote, Cranch died in Washington, D. C. aged 86. William Cranchs daughter Abigail Adams Cranch married William Greenleaf Eliot, William Eliot and Abigail Cranch were the parents of Henry Ware Eliot and the grandparents of T. S. Eliot
13.
Wheaton v. Peters
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Wheaton v. Peters,33 U. S.591, was the first United States Supreme Court ruling on copyright. The case upheld the power of Congress to make a grant of copyright protection subject to conditions, the Court also declared that there could be no copyright in the Courts own judicial decisions. The case arose out of the printing of the Supreme Courts own opinions, Henry Wheaton, the third reporter of decisions, had compiled with great care the opinions of the Court, complete with annotations and summaries of the arguments in Court. This was useful material but made the volumes of his reports costly, the Reporters salary of $1,000 per year did not cover the full expenses of preparing the reports, and the Reporters relied on sales of their books to recoup their costs. By creating more affordable volumes, Peters devastated the market for Wheatons more expensive ones, Wheaton sued Peters in Pennsylvania and lost in the circuit court. Wheaton appealed to the Supreme Court, justice John McLean, who himself had publishing experience as the founder of an Ohio newspaper, wrote the opinion of the Court. McLean declared that post-publication copyright did not exist in the United States, Congress, then, by this act, instead of sanctioning an existing right, as contended, created it. McLean also rejected Wheatons contention that requiring registration and the deposit of a copy of the work with the Department of State were improper prerequisite to copyright protection. Because Congress was granting authors the protection of copyright, it could require them to observe the statutory formalities and this precedent corresponded to the English decision in Donaldson v. Beckett, which was cited in the Courts opinion. The Court remanded the case to the Circuit court to determine whether Wheaton had satisfied the requirements for copyright protection, justice Smith Thompson wrote a dissenting opinion, in which he concluded that Wheaton was entitled to an injunction against Peters publication of his reports. As the Supreme Court had directed, the Circuit Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania held a trial on the issue of whether Wheaton had satisfied the copyright formalities, the court ruled that he had. Peters appealed, but while the appeal was pending, both Wheaton and Peters died. The case was settled, with Peters estate paying Wheatons estate $400. Copyright History of copyright List of leading cases in copyright law List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 33 Deazley. On the Origin of the Right to Copy, Charting the Movement of Copyright Law in Eighteenth-century Britain, copyrights Highway, From Gutenberg to the Celestial Jukebox. Patterson, Lyman Ray, Lindberg, Stanley W, the Nature of Copyright, A Law of Users Rights. Athens, Georgia, University of Georgia Press, John Marshall, Definer Of A Nation. New York, Henry Holt & Company
14.
Henry Wheaton
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Henry Wheaton was a United States lawyer, jurist and diplomat. He was the reporter of decisions for the United States Supreme Court, first U. S. minister to Denmark. He was born at Providence, Rhode Island and he graduated from Brown University in 1802, was admitted to the bar in 1805, and, after two years’ study abroad in Poictiers and London, practiced law at Providence and at New York City. From 1812 to 1815, he edited National Advocate, the organ of the administration party, there he published notable articles on the question of neutral rights in connection with the then existing war with England. On 26 October 1814, he became judge advocate of the army. He was a justice of the Marine Court of New York City from 1815 to 1819, from 1816 to 1827, he edited reports of the Supreme Court. Aided by Justice Joseph Story, his reports were known for their notes and summaries of the arguments presented by each side. However, the volumes were slow in appearing and costly, wheatons successor Richard Peters condensed his work, and Wheaton sued him, claiming infringement of his common-law copyright. The Supreme Court rejected his claim in Wheaton v. Peters and he was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1820. Butler in a commission to revise the law of New York. He also took part in important cases, and was the associate of Daniel Webster in that which settled the limits of the state. In 1825, he aided in the revision of the laws of New York and his diplomatic career began in 1827, with an appointment to Denmark as chargé daffaires. He served until 1835, displaying skill in the settlement of the dues that were imposed by Denmark on the vessels of all countries. He was noted for his research into the Scandinavian language and literature, in 1835 he was appointed minister to Prussia, being promoted to minister plenipotentiary in 1837. He soon received power to conclude a treaty with the Zollverein. On 25 March 1844, he signed a treaty with Germany, for which he received commendation from President Tyler. This was rejected by the U. S. Senate, and he was made a corresponding member of the French Institute in 1843, and a member of the Royal Academy of Berlin in 1846. Other issues Wheaton dealt with during his career were Scheldt dues, the tolls on the Elbe
15.
Richard Peters (reporter)
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Richard Peters, Jr. was an American attorney and the fourth reporter of decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from 1828 to 1843. Richard Peters, Jr. was born in Belmont, Pennsylvania, the son of Richard Peters, Peters, Jr. studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1800. In 1816, Peters was among a group of men led by Condy Raguet who founded the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, in the early 20th century, it was the largest savings bank in the United States. Peters served as the editor of, Chitty on Bills, Joseph Chitty on Criminal Law, Bushrod Washingtons Circuit Court Reports, Third Circuit and he was appointed as the solicitor of Philadelphia County, serving from 1822 to 1825. In 1828, Peters was appointed as Reporter of Decisions for the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington and he condensed the reports of his three predecessors to have a more concise version for legal reviews. He eliminated the arguments of counsel, annotations, and other material and his immediate predecessor Henry Wheaton sued. The Supreme Court rejected Wheatons claim to a Common law copyright in his own reports in the first landmark case in American copyright law, Wheaton v. Peters. The Court dismissed Peters in 1843 because of the accuracy and fidelity of his reports, in addition. Peters was married to Abigail Willing, daughter of prominent Philadelphian Thomas Willing, Peters died in Belmont, Pennsylvania in 1848. com, under his great-uncle, also Richard Peters
16.
United States Statutes at Large
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Each act and resolution of Congress is called a slip law, which is classified as either public law or private law, and designated and numbered accordingly. At the end of a Congress session, slip laws are compiled into Statutes at Large and they are part of a three-part model for publication of federal statutes consisting of slip laws, session laws, and codification. Today, large portions of slip laws denominated as public laws are now drafted as amendments to the United States Code. Once enacted into law, an Act will be published in the Statutes at Large and will add to, modify, provisions of a public law that contains only enacting clauses, effective dates, and similar matters are not generally codified. Private laws also are not generally codified, some portions of the United States Code have been enacted as positive law and other portions have not been so enacted. Publication of the United States Statutes at Large began in 1845 by the firm of Little, Brown. During Little, Brown and Companys time as publisher, Richard Peters, George Minot, in 1874, Congress transferred the authority to publish the Statutes at Large to the Government Printing Office under the direction of the Secretary of State. 633, was enacted July 30,1947 and directed the Secretary of State to compile, edit, index,980, was enacted September 23,1950 and directed the Administrator of General Services to compile, edit, index, and publish the Statutes at Large. Since 1985 the Statutes at Large have been prepared and published by the Office of the Federal Register of the National Archives, sometimes very large or long Acts of Congress are published as their own volume of the Statutes at Large. For example, the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 was published as volume 68A of the Statutes at Large. Volumes 1 to 18 of the Statutes at Large made available by the Library of Congress Volumes 1 to 64 of the Statutes at Large made available by the Congressional Data Coalition via LEGISWORKS
17.
McCulloch v. Maryland
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McCulloch v. Maryland,17 U. S.316, was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States. The state of Maryland had attempted to impede operation of a branch of the Second Bank of the United States by imposing a tax on all notes of banks not chartered in Maryland and this case established two important principles in constitutional law. First, the Constitution grants to Congress implied powers for implementing the Constitutions express powers, Second, state action may not impede valid constitutional exercises of power by the Federal government. The Bank first went into operation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. James William McCulloch, head of the Baltimore Branch of the Second Bank of the United States, the lawsuit was filed by John James, an informer who sought to collect one half of the fine as provided for by the statute. The case was appealed to the Maryland Court of Appeals where the state of Maryland argued that the Constitution is silent on the subject of banks. It was Marylands contention that because the Constitution did not specifically state that the government was authorized to charter a bank. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court. The Court determined that Congress did have the power to create the Bank, Chief Justice Marshall supported this conclusion with four main arguments. First, he argued that historical practice established Congress power to create the Bank, Marshall invoked the first Bank of the United States history as authority for the constitutionality of the second bank. Second, Chief Justice Marshall refuted the argument that states retain ultimate sovereignty because they ratified the constitution, Marshall contended that it was the people who ratified the Constitution and thus the people are sovereign, not the states. Third, Marshall addressed the scope of powers under Article I. The Court broadly described Congress authority before addressing the necessary and proper clause, Marshall admitted that the Constitution does not enumerate a power to create a central Bank but said that this is not dispositive as to Congresss power to establish such an institution. Chief Justice Marshall wrote, In considering this question, then, we must never forget, Marshall also noted that the Necessary and Proper Clause is listed within the powers of Congress, not the limitations. This principle had been established years earlier by Alexander Hamilton, criterion of what is constitutional. There is also this further criterion which may materially assist the decision, Does the proposed measure abridge a pre-existing right of any State, if it does not, there is a strong presumption in favour of its constitutionality. Chief Justice Marshall also determined that Maryland may not tax the bank without violating the Constitution, the Court voided the tax on the grounds that it was unconstitutional. The opinion stated that Congress has implied powers that need to be related to the text of the Constitution and this case was a seminal moment in the formation of a balance between federalism, federal power, and states powers
18.
National Reporter System
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Wests National Reporter System is a set of law reports for federal courts and appellate state courts in the United States. It started with the North Western Reporter in 1879 which has its origin in The Syllabi, the New York Supplement covers both intermediate appellate courts and state trial courts, since there is also an official reporter for the latter in New York State. Indices of citations are provided by Shepards Citations while the West American Digest System offers access by hierarchized keywords, the NRS is available at law libraries throughout the United States, and is also available through online legal research databases like Westlaw and LexisNexis. Since the NRS now comprises over 10,000 volumes, and many cases have been overruled or superseded. Most law libraries either do not carry older volumes or retrieve them on request from off-site compact storage, while enormous in size and vast in scope, the NRS is not entirely comprehensive. In the 1890s, West retroactively brought all pre-1880 published cases of all federal courts into the NRS framework by compiling them into the Federal Cases reporter. The NRS does not include opinions from state courts, courts administered by territorial governments, Indian courts. Certain opinions from federal courts of appeals, federal district courts, however, all these materials can be found separately on legal research databases. United States Reports Map of Wests National Reporter System Albaum, Shelly, past, Present and Future, The National Reporter System Celebrates Historic Anniversary
19.
Wikisource
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Wikisource is an online digital library of free content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project, the projects aims are to host all forms of free text, in many languages, and translations. Originally conceived as an archive to store useful or important historical texts, the project officially began in November 24,2003 under the name Project Sourceberg. The name Wikisource was adopted later that year and it received its own domain name seven months later, the project has come under criticism for lack of reliability but it is also cited by organisations such as the National Archives and Records Administration. The project holds works that are either in the domain or freely licensed, professionally published works or historical source documents, not vanity products. Verification was initially made offline, or by trusting the reliability of digital libraries. Now works are supported by online scans via the ProofreadPage extension, some individual Wikisources, each representing a specific language, now only allow works backed up with scans. While the bulk of its collection are texts, Wikisource as a whole hosts other media, some Wikisources allow user-generated annotations, subject to the specific policies of the Wikisource in question. Wikisources early history included several changes of name and location, the original concept for Wikisource was as storage for useful or important historical texts. These texts were intended to support Wikipedia articles, by providing evidence and original source texts. The collection was focused on important historical and cultural material. The project was originally called Project Sourceberg during its planning stages, in 2001, there was a dispute on Wikipedia regarding the addition of primary source material, leading to edit wars over their inclusion or deletion. Project Sourceberg was suggested as a solution to this, perhaps Project Sourceberg can mainly work as an interface for easily linking from Wikipedia to a Project Gutenberg file, and as an interface for people to easily submit new work to PG. Wed want to complement Project Gutenberg--how, exactly, and Jimmy Wales adding like Larry, Im interested that we think it over to see what we can add to Project Gutenberg. It seems unlikely that primary sources should in general be editable by anyone -- I mean, Shakespeare is Shakespeare, unlike our commentary on his work, the project began its activity at ps. wikipedia. org. The contributors understood the PS subdomain to mean either primary sources or Project Sourceberg, however, this resulted in Project Sourceberg occupying the subdomain of the Pashto Wikipedia. A vote on the name changed it to Wikisource on December 6,2003. Despite the change in name, the project did not move to its permanent URL until July 23,2004, since Wikisource was initially called Project Sourceberg, its first logo was a picture of an iceberg
20.
Lists of United States Supreme Court cases
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This page serves as an index of lists of United States Supreme Court cases. The Supreme Court of the United States is the countrys highest court, scholars and other studiers consider each Chief Justice of the United States who presides over the Supreme Court of the United States to be the head of an era of the Court. Since 2005, it has been the Roberts Court under Chief Justice John Roberts, since the Courts inception in 1789, there have been the following Courts, These lists are sorted chronologically by Chief Justice and include most major cases decided by the Court. Each volume can be viewed at List of United States Supreme Court cases by volume, the tables conclude with term statistics and concordance data. gov Torrent files for all opinions, 1991-2006
21.
United States Supreme Court Building
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The Supreme Court Building is the seat of the Supreme Court of the United States and the Judicial Branch thereof. Completed in 1935, it is situated in Washington, D. C. at 1 First Street, NE, the building is under the jurisdiction of the Architect of the Capitol. On May 4,1987, the Supreme Court Building was designated a National Historic Landmark, prior to the establishment of the Federal City, the United States government resided briefly in New York City. As such, the Supreme Court met there during this time in the Merchants Exchange Building, after the federal government moved to Washington, D. C. the court had no permanent meeting location until 1810. In 1810, the Supreme Court first occupied the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the Capitol, as the Senate expanded, it progressively outgrew its quarters. In 1860, the Supreme Court moved to the Old Senate Chamber where it remained until its move to the current Supreme Court building, the court was finally designed by Cass Gilbert, who created many other structures in the United States. The Supreme Court Building is located at 1 First Street, NE and was designed by architect Cass Gilbert and it rises four stories above ground. The cornerstone was laid on October 13,1932, and construction completed in 1935, the Supreme Court Building is built in the Neoclassical style. The public façade is made of marble quarried from Vermont, most of the interior spaces are lined with Alabama marble, except for the Courtroom itself, which is lined with Spanish ivory vein marble. For the Courtrooms 24 columns, Gilbert felt that only the ivory buff and golden marble from the Montarrenti quarries near Siena, Italy would suffice. To this end, in May 1933, he petitioned the Italian Premier, Benito Mussolini, not all the justices were thrilled by the new arrangements, the courtroom in particular. Harlan Fiske Stone complained it was almost bombastically pretentious. Wholly inappropriate for a group of old boys such as the Supreme Court. The New Yorker columnist Howard Brubaker noted at the time of its opening that it had fine big windows to throw the New Deal out of. The west façade of the bears the motto Equal Justice Under Law, while the east façade bears the motto Justice. After the incident, planning was initiated to repair the west façade which includes cleaning, removal of debris, in 2012 scaffolding encased the west façade printed with a full-size photograph of the façade. The project was completed in 2013, the Supreme Court Buildings facilities include, In the basement, maintenance facilities, garage, on-site mailroom. On the first floor, Public information office, the clerks office, on the second floor, the Great Hall, the courtroom, the conference room, and all of the justices chambers except Justice Sotomayor. On the third floor, The office of Justice Sotomayor, the office of the Reporter of Decisions, the office
22.
Chief Justice of the United States
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The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices, the eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. From 1789 until 1866, the office was known as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice also serves as a spokesperson for the judicial branch. The Chief Justice leads the business of the Supreme Court and presides over oral arguments, when the court renders an opinion, the Chief Justice—when in the majority—decides who writes the courts opinion. The Chief Justice also has significant agenda-setting power over the courts meetings, in the case of an impeachment of a President of the United States, which has occurred twice, the Chief Justice presides over the trial in the Senate. In modern tradition, the Chief Justice also has the duty of administering the oath of office of the President of the United States. The first Chief Justice was John Jay, the 17th and current Chief Justice is John G. Roberts, Jr. The office was known as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and is still informally referred to using that title. However,28 U. S. C. §1 specifies that the title is Chief Justice of the United States, the title was changed from Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by Congress in 1866 at the suggestion of the sixth Chief Justice, Salmon P. Chase. Chase wished to emphasize the Supreme Courts role as a branch of government. The first Chief Justice commissioned using the new title was Melville Fuller in 1888, use of the previous title when referring to Chief Justices John Jay through Roger B. Taney is technically correct, as that was the title during their time on the court. The other eight members of the court are officially Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Chief Justice is the only member of the court to whom the Constitution refers as a Justice, and only in Article I. Article III of the Constitution refers to all members of the Supreme Court simply as Judges, the Chief Justice is nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed to sit on the Court by the United States Senate. The salary of the Chief Justice is set by Congress, the Constitution prohibits Congress from lowering the salary of any judge, including the Chief Justice, while that judge holds office. As of 2015, the salary is $258,100 per year, which is higher than that of the Associate Justices. Three serving Associate Justices have received promotions to Chief Justice, Edward Douglass White in 1910, Harlan Fiske Stone in 1941, Associate Justice Abe Fortas was nominated to the position of Chief Justice of the United States, but his nomination was filibustered by Senate Republicans in 1968. Despite the failed nomination, Fortas remained an Associate Justice until his resignation the following year, there have been 21 individuals nominated for Chief Justice, of whom 17 have been confirmed by the Senate, although a different 17 have served
23.
John Roberts
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John Glover Roberts Jr. is the 17th and current Chief Justice of the United States. He took his seat on September 29,2005, having been nominated by President George W. Bush after the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist and he has been described as having a conservative judicial philosophy in his jurisprudence. Roberts grew up in northwest Indiana and was educated in a private school and he then attended Harvard College and Harvard Law School, where he was a managing editor of the Harvard Law Review. During this time, he argued 39 cases before the Supreme Court, notably, he represented 19 states in United States v. Microsoft. In 2003, Roberts was appointed as a judge of the D. C. Circuit by President George W. Bush, during his two-year tenure on the D. C. Circuit, Roberts authored 49 opinions, eliciting two dissents from other judges, and authoring three dissents of his own, in 2005, Roberts was nominated to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, initially to succeed retiring Justice Sandra Day OConnor. When Chief Justice Rehnquist died before Robertss confirmation hearings began, Bush instead nominated Roberts to fill the Chief Justice position, Roberts has authored the majority opinion in many landmark cases, including Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, Shelby County v. Holder, and National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, John Glover Roberts was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Rosemary and John Glover Jack Roberts Sr. His father was a plant manager with Bethlehem Steel and he has Irish, Welsh, and Czech ancestry. When Roberts was in grade, his family moved to Long Beach. He grew up with three sisters, Kathy, Peggy, and Barbara, Roberts attended Notre Dame Elementary School, a Roman Catholic grade school in Long Beach. In 1973, he graduated from La Lumiere School, a Roman Catholic boarding school in La Porte, Indiana and he studied five years of Latin, some French, and was known generally for his devotion to his studies. He was captain of the team, and was a regional champion in wrestling. He participated in choir and drama, co-edited the school newspaper, and served on the athletic council and he attended Harvard College, graduating in 1976 with an A. B. summa cum laude in history in three years. He then attended Harvard Law School where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He graduated from law school with a J. D. magna cum laude in 1979, after graduating from law school, Roberts served as a law clerk for Judge Henry Friendly on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals for one year. Roberts frequently cites Judge Friendly in his opinions, from 1980 to 1981, he clerked for then-Associate Justice William Rehnquist on the United States Supreme Court. From 1981 to 1982, he served in the Reagan administration as a Special Assistant to U. S. Attorney General William French Smith, from 1982 to 1986, Roberts served as Associate Counsel to the President under White House Counsel Fred Fielding
24.
Clarence Thomas
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Clarence Thomas is an American judge, lawyer, and government official who currently serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Thomas succeeded Thurgood Marshall and is the second African American to serve on the court, Thomas grew up in Savannah, Georgia, and was educated at the College of the Holy Cross and at Yale Law School. In 1974, he was appointed an Assistant Attorney General in Missouri, in 1979, he became a legislative assistant to Senator John Danforth and in 1981 was appointed Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U. S. Department of Education. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed Thomas Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, in 1990, President George H. W. Bush nominated Thomas for a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He served in that role for 16 months and on July 1,1991, was nominated by Bush to fill Marshalls seat on the United States Supreme Court, the U. S. Senate ultimately confirmed Thomas by a vote of 52–48. Since joining the court, Thomas has taken a textualist approach, seeking to uphold the original meaning of the United States Constitution and he is generally viewed as the most conservative member of the court. Clarence Thomas was born in 1948 in Pin Point, Georgia and he was the second of three children born to M. C. Thomas, a worker, and Leola Williams, a domestic worker. They were descendants of American slaves, and the family spoke Gullah as a first language, Thomass earliest-known ancestors were slaves named Sandy and Peggy who were born around the end of the 18th century and owned by wealthy Liberty County, Georgia planter Josiah Wilson. M. C. left his family when Thomas was two years old, Thomass mother worked hard but was sometimes paid only pennies per day. She had difficulty putting food on the table and was forced to rely on charity, after a house fire left them homeless, Thomas and his younger brother Myers were taken to live with his maternal grandparents in Savannah, Georgia. Thomas was seven when the family moved in with his grandfather, Myers Anderson. Living with his grandparents, Thomas enjoyed amenities such as indoor plumbing and his grandfather Myers Anderson had little formal education, but had built a thriving fuel oil business that also sold ice. Thomas calls his grandfather the greatest man I have ever known, when Thomas was 10, Anderson started taking the family to help at a farm every day from sunrise to sunset. His grandfather believed in hard work and self-reliance, he would counsel Thomas to never let the sun catch you in bed, Thomas grandfather also impressed upon his grandsons the importance of getting a good education. Thomas was the black person at his high school in Savannah. He considered entering the priesthood at the age of 16, and he also briefly attended Conception Seminary College, a Roman Catholic seminary in Missouri. No one in Thomass family had attended college, Thomas has said that during his first year in seminary, he was one of only three or four blacks attending the school
25.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Ginsburg was appointed by President Bill Clinton and took the oath of office on August 10,1993 and she is the second female justice and one of four female justices appointed on the Supreme Court. She is generally viewed as belonging to the wing of the Court. Ginsburg was one of the few women in her law school class, following law school, Ginsburg turned to academia. She was a professor at Rutgers School of Law–Newark and Columbia Law School, Ginsburg spent a considerable portion of her legal career as an advocate for the advancement of gender equality and womens rights, winning multiple victories arguing before the Supreme Court. She advocated as a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union and was a member of its board of directors. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Born in Brooklyn, New York City, Joan Ruth Bader is the daughter of Nathan and Celia Bader, Russian Jewish immigrants. The Baders older daughter, Marylin, died of meningitis at age 6 when Ruth was 14 months old, the family called Joan Ruth Kiki, a nickname Marylin had given her for being a kicky baby. When Kiki started school, Celia discovered that her daughters class had several other girls named Joan, although not devout, the Bader family belonged to East Midwood Jewish Center, a Conservative temple, where Ruth learned tenets of the Jewish faith and gained familiarity with the Hebrew language. At age thirteen, Ruth acted as the rabbi at a Jewish summer program at Camp Che-Na-Wah in Minerva. Her mother took a role in her education, taking her to the library often. Celia had been a student in her youth, graduating from high school at age 15. Celia wanted to see her daughter get more of an education, Ruth attended James Madison High School, whose law program later dedicated a courtroom in her honor. Celia struggled with cancer throughout Ruths high school years, and died the day before Ruths high school graduation, Bader attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where she was a member of Alpha Epsilon Phi. While at Cornell she met Martin D. Ginsburg at age 17 and she graduated from Cornell with a Bachelor of Arts degree in government on June 23,1954. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the female student in her graduating class. At age 21, she worked for the Social Security Administration office in Oklahoma and she gave birth to a daughter in 1955
26.
Stephen Breyer
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Stephen Gerald Breyer is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, Breyer is generally associated with the liberal side of the Court. Following a clerkship with Supreme Court Associate Justice Arthur Goldberg in 1964, Breyer became well known as a law professor and lecturer at Harvard Law School, there he specialized in administrative law, writing a number of influential textbooks that remain in use today. Breyer was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Anne A. and Irving Gerald Breyer, Irving Breyer was legal counsel for the San Francisco Board of Education. Both Breyer and his brother, Charles, who is a federal district judge, are Eagle Scouts of San Franciscos Troop 14. Breyers paternal great-grandfather emigrated from Romania to the United States, settling in Cleveland, in 1955, Breyer graduated from Lowell High School. He is also fluent in French, in 1967, he married the Hon. Joanna Freda Hare, a psychologist and member of the British aristocracy, as the youngest daughter of John Hare, 1st Viscount Blakenham. The Breyers have three children, Chloe, an Episcopal priest and author of The Close, Nell. Breyer served as a law clerk to Associate Justice Arthur Goldberg during the 1964 term and he was a special assistant to the United States Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust from 1965 to 1967 and an assistant special prosecutor on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force in 1973. Breyer was a counsel to the U. S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary from 1974 to 1975. He worked closely with the chairman of the committee, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Breyer was a lecturer, assistant professor, and law professor at Harvard Law School starting in 1967. He taught there until 1994, also serving as a professor at Harvards Kennedy School of Government from 1977 to 1980, at Harvard, Breyer was known as a leading expert on administrative law. While there, he wrote two influential books on deregulation, Breaking the Vicious Circle, Toward Effective Risk Regulation and Regulation. In 1970, Breyer wrote The Uneasy Case for Copyright, one of the most widely cited skeptical examinations of copyright, Breyer was a visiting professor at the College of Law in Sydney, Australia, the University of Rome, and the Tulane University Law School. From 1980 to 1994, Breyer was a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, he was the courts Chief Judge from 1990 to 1994. In the last days of President Jimmy Carters administration, on November 13,1980, Carter nominated Breyer to the First Circuit, and the U. S. Senate confirmed him on December 9,1980, by an 80–10 vote. He served as a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States between 1990 and 1994 and the United States Sentencing Commission between 1985 and 1989, in 1993, President Bill Clinton considered him for the seat vacated by Byron White that ultimately went to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Breyers appointment came shortly thereafter, however, following the retirement of Harry Blackmun in 1994, Breyer was confirmed by the U. S. Senate in an 87 to 9 vote and took his seat August 3,1994
27.
Samuel Alito
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Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr. is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George W. Bush and has served on the court since January 31,2006 and he is the 110th justice, the second Italian-American, and the eleventh Roman Catholic to serve on the court. Alito is considered one of the most conservative justices on the Court and he has described himself as a practical originalist. Alitos majority opinions in cases include McDonald v. Chicago. Alito was born in Trenton, New Jersey, the son of Samuel A. Alito, Sr. an Italian immigrant, and the former Rose Fradusco, an Italian-American. Alitos father, now deceased, was a school teacher and then became the first Director of the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services. Alitos mother is a retired schoolteacher, Alito grew up in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, a suburb of Trenton. It also called for the decriminalization of sodomy, and urged for an end to discrimination against gays in hiring by employers and he also led the American Whig-Cliosophic Societys Debate Panel during his time at Princeton. While a sophomore at Princeton, Alito received a low number,32. In 1970, he became a member of the schools Army ROTC program, attending a basic training camp that year at Fort Knox. Alito was a member of the Concerned Alumni of Princeton, which was formed in October 1972 at least in part to oppose Princetons decisions regarding affirmative action, Alito has cited the banning and subsequent treatment of ROTC by the university as his reason for belonging to CAP. During his senior year at Princeton, Alito moved out of New Jersey for the first time to study in Italy, where he wrote his thesis on the Italian legal system. Graduating in 1972, Alito left a sign of his lofty aspirations in his yearbook and he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U. S. Army Signal Corps after his graduation from Princeton and assigned to the United States Army Reserve. Following his graduation from Yale Law School, he served on duty from September to December 1975. The remainder of his time in the Army was served in the inactive Reserves and he was a captain when he received an honorable discharge in 1980. After graduating from Yale Law School in 1975, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal, garth in Newark, New Jersey in 1976 and 1977. He interviewed with Supreme Court Justice Byron White for a clerkship but was not hired, between 1977 and 1981, Alito was Assistant United States Attorney, District of New Jersey. While serving as an Assistant U. S. Attorney for New Jersey, he prosecuted many cases that involved drug trafficking, from 1981 to 1985, Alito was Assistant to Solicitor General Rex E. Lee
28.
Sonia Sotomayor
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Sonia Maria Sotomayor is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving since August 2009. She has the distinction of being its first justice of Hispanic heritage, the first Latina, its third female justice, Sotomayor, along with John Roberts and Elena Kagan, is one of the youngest justices on the Supreme Court. Sotomayor was born in The Bronx, New York City, to Puerto Rican-born parents and her father died when she was nine, and she was subsequently raised by her mother. Sotomayor graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1976 and received her J. D. from Yale Law School in 1979 and she was an advocate for the hiring of Latino faculty at both schools. She worked as an assistant district attorney in New York for four and she played an active role on the boards of directors for the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, the State of New York Mortgage Agency, and the New York City Campaign Finance Board. Sotomayor was nominated to the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by President George H. W. Bush in 1991, confirmation followed in 1992. In 1997, she was nominated by President Bill Clinton to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and her nomination was slowed by the Republican majority in the United States Senate, but she was eventually confirmed in 1998. On the Second Circuit, Sotomayor heard appeals in more than 3,000 cases, Sotomayor has taught at the New York University School of Law and Columbia Law School. In May 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Sotomayor to the Supreme Court following the retirement of Justice David Souter and her nomination was confirmed by the Senate in August 2009 by a vote of 68–31. Sotomayor has supported, while on the court, the liberal bloc of justices when they divide along the commonly perceived ideological lines. Sonia Maria Sotomayor was born in the New York City borough of The Bronx, the two left Puerto Rico separately, met, and married during World War II after Celina served in the Womens Army Corps. Juan Sotomayor had an education, did not speak English. Sonias younger brother, Juan Sotomayor, later became a physician and university professor in the Syracuse, New York, Sotomayor was raised a Catholic and grew up in Puerto Rican communities in the South Bronx and East Bronx, she self-identifies as a Nuyorican. The family lived in a South Bronx tenement before moving in 1957 to the well-maintained, racially and ethnically mixed and her relative proximity to Yankee Stadium led to her becoming a lifelong fan of the New York Yankees. The extended family got together frequently and regularly visited Puerto Rico during summers, Sonia grew up with an alcoholic father and a mother who was emotionally distant, she felt closest to her grandmother, who she later said gave her a source of protection and purpose. Sonia was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age seven, and her father died of heart problems at age 42, when she was nine years old. After this, she became fluent in English and she reflected in 1998, I was going to college and I was going to become an attorney, and I knew that when I was ten. Celina Sotomayor put great stress on the value of education, she bought the Encyclopædia Britannica for her children, for grammar school, Sotomayor attended Blessed Sacrament School in Soundview, where she was valedictorian and had a near-perfect attendance record
29.
Elena Kagan
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Elena Kagan is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Kagan is the Courts fourth female justice, Kagan was born and raised in New York City. After attending Princeton, Oxford, and Harvard Law School, she completed federal Court of Appeals and she began her career as a professor at the University of Chicago Law School, leaving to serve as Associate White House Counsel, and later as policy adviser, under President Clinton. After a nomination to the United States Court of Appeals for the D. C, Circuit, which expired without action, she became a professor at Harvard Law School and was later named its first female dean. In 2009, Kagan became the first female Solicitor General, after confirmation, Kagan was sworn in on August 7,2010, by Chief Justice John G. Roberts. Kagans formal investiture ceremony before a sitting of the United States Supreme Court took place on October 1,2010. Kagan was born in New York City, the middle of three children, on the citys Upper West Side and her father, Robert Kagan, was an attorney, and her mother, Gloria Kagan, taught at Hunter College Elementary School. Kagans two brothers are public school teachers, Kagan and her family lived in a third-floor apartment at West End Avenue and 75th Street and attended Lincoln Square Synagogue. Kagan was independent and strong-willed in her youth and, according to a law partner. She had strong opinions about what a bat mitzvah should be like, but they finally worked it out. She negotiated with the rabbi and came to a conclusion that satisfied everybody, Kagans rabbi, Shlomo Riskin, had never performed a ritual bat mitzvah before. Elena Kagan felt very strongly that there should be ritual bat mitzvah in the synagogue and this was really the first formal bat mitzvah we had, said Riskin. Kagan asked to read from the Torah on a Saturday morning but ultimately read on a Friday night, May 18,1973, today, she identifies with Conservative Judaism. Childhood friend Margaret Raymond recalled that Kagan was a teenage smoker, on Saturday nights, she and Kagan were more apt to sit on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and talk. Kagan also loved literature and re-read Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice every year, in her Hunter College High School yearbook of 1977, Kagan was pictured in a judges robe and holding a gavel. Next to her photo was a quote from former Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, Government is itself an art, after graduating from high school, Kagan attended Princeton University, where she earned an A. B. summa cum laude in history in 1981. Among the subjects she studied was the socialist movement in New York City in the early 20th century and she wrote a senior thesis under historian Sean Wilentz titled To the Final Conflict, Socialism in New York City, 1900–1933. In it she wrote, Through its own internal feuding, then, the story is a sad but also a chastening one for those who, more than half a century after socialisms decline, still wish to change America
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Brett Kavanaugh
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Brett Michael Kavanaugh is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the D. C. He was Staff Secretary in the Executive Office of the President of the United States under President George W. Bush, a protégé of Kenneth Starr, Kavanaugh played a lead role in drafting the Starr report, which urged the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Kavanaugh also led the investigation into the suicide of Clinton aide Vincent Foster, Kavanaugh himself was nominated to the D. C. Appeals Court by Bush in 2003 and his confirmation hearings were contentious and stalled for three years over charges of partisanship. Kavanaugh was ultimately confirmed in May 2006 after a series of negotiations between Democratic and Republican Senators, according to Jeffrey Toobin, Kavanaugh is a potential future Republican nominee to the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh was born on February 12,1965 in Washington, D. C. and raised in Bethesda, Maryland and he is a Roman Catholic and graduated from the Georgetown Preparatory School before going to Yale College. He received his B. A. from Yale College and his law degree from Yale Law School, where he served as Notes Editor of the Yale Law Journal. He is married to Ashley Estes, a native of Abilene, Texas, Kavanaugh clerked for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, as well as Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit and Judge Walter Stapleton of the Third Circuit. Prior to his Supreme Court clerkship, Kavanaugh earned a fellowship in the Office of the Solicitor General of the United States. The Solicitor Generals office represents the United States before the Supreme Court, Kavanaugh was later a partner at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis, where his practice focused on appellate matters. After George W. Bush became president in 2001, Kavanaugh served for two years as Senior Associate Counsel and Associate Counsel to the President, in that capacity, he worked on the numerous constitutional, legal, and ethical issues handled by that office. Starting in 2003, he served as Assistant to the President, in that capacity, he was responsible for coordinating all documents to and from the president. President George W. Bush first nominated Kavanaugh to the D. C. Circuit on July 25,2003, to a created by Judge Laurence H. Silberman. Kavanaughs nomination was stalled in the Senate for nearly three years, Democratic Senators criticized him as being too partisan, with Senator Dick Durbin calling him the Forrest Gump of Republican politics. The Senate Judiciary Committee recommended confirmation on a 10-8 party-line vote on May 11,2006, on June 1,2006, he was sworn in by Justice Anthony Kennedy, for whom he had previously clerked, during a special Rose Garden ceremony at the White House. Kavanaugh was the fourth judge nominated to the D. C. Circuit by Bush, Kavanaugh began hearing cases on September 11,2006 and had his formal investiture on September 27 at the Prettyman Courthouse. His first published opinion was released on November 17,2006 and he authored the opinion of the court for a unanimous three-judge panel in the case of National Fuel Gas Supply Corp. v. FERC. In July 2007 Democratic Senators Patrick Leahy and Dick Durbin accused Kavanaugh of misleading the Senate committee during his nomination stemming from the Bush White House detention policy
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John Paul Stevens
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John Paul Stevens is a retired associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who served from December 19,1975, until his retirement on June 29,2010. At the time of his retirement, he was the oldest justice then serving, the second-oldest serving justice in the history of the Court, and he was nominated by President Gerald Ford to replace the Courts longest-serving justice, William O. Douglas. Stevens is widely considered to have been on the side of the Court at the time of his retirement. Stevens served with three Chief Justices, Stevens was born on April 20,1920, in Hyde Park, Chicago, Illinois, to a wealthy family. His paternal grandfather had formed a company and held real estate in Chicago. His father, Ernest James Stevens, was a lawyer who became a hotelier. He lost ownership of the hotels during the Great Depression and was convicted of embezzlement and his mother, Elizabeth Maude Stevens, was a high-school English teacher. Two of his three brothers also became lawyers. As a boy, Stevens attended the 1932 World Series baseball game in Chicagos Wrigley Field in which Babe Ruth called his shot, Stevens later recalled, Ruth did point to the center-field scoreboard. And he did hit the ball out of the park after he pointed with his bat, so it really happened. He also had the opportunity to meet several people of the era, including the famed aviators Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh. The family lived in Hyde Park, and John Paul Stevens attended the University of Chicago Laboratory School. He subsequently obtained a bachelor of arts in English from the University of Chicago in 1941, while in college and he began work on his masters degree in English at the university in 1941, but soon decided to join the United States Navy. He enlisted on December 6,1941, one day before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Stevens was awarded a Bronze Star for his service in the codebreaking team whose work led to the downing of Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamotos plane in 1943. Stevens married Elizabeth Jane Shereen in June 1942, divorcing her in 1979, he married Maryan Mulholland Simon that December. He has four children, John Joseph, Kathryn, Elizabeth, with the end of World War II, Stevens returned to Illinois, intending to return to his studies in English, but was persuaded by his brother Richard, who was a lawyer, to attend law school. Stevens enrolled in the Northwestern University School of Law in 1945 and he was a brilliant student, earning the highest GPA in the history of the law school. He received his J. D. in 1947, graduating cum laude
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Sandra Day O'Connor
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Sandra Day OConnor is a retired associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from her appointment in 1981 by Ronald Reagan until her retirement in 2006. She was the first woman to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Prior to OConnors tenures on the Court, she was an elected official, on July 1,2005, she announced her intention to retire effective upon the confirmation of a successor. Samuel Alito was nominated to take her seat in October 2005, considered a federalist and a moderate Republican, OConnor tended to approach each case narrowly without arguing for sweeping precedents. She most frequently sided with the conservative bloc, although in the latter years of her tenure. OConnor was Chancellor of The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia and she also served on the Board of Trustees for Colonial Williamsburg. Several publications have named OConnor among the most powerful women in the world, on August 12,2009, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor of the United States, by President Barack Obama. She was born in El Paso, Texas, the daughter of Harry Alfred Day, a rancher and her sister was Ann Day, who served in the Arizona Legislature. She grew up on a ranch near Duncan, Arizona where she had to change automobile flat tires herself in dangerous environments. She later wrote a book with her brother, H. Alan Day, Lazy B, Growing up on a Cattle Ranch in the American West, about her childhood experiences on the ranch. For most of her schooling, OConnor lived in El Paso with her maternal grandmother, and attended school at the Radford School for Girls. She graduated sixth in her class at Austin High School in El Paso in 1946 and she attended Stanford University, where she received her B. A. in economics in 1950. She continued at the Stanford Law School for her LL. B and she has stated that she graduated third in her law school class, although Stanfords official position is that the law school did not rank students in 1952. On December 20,1952, six months after graduating law school. Her husband suffered from Alzheimers disease for twenty years until his death in 2009. After graduation from law school, at least forty law firms refused to interview her for a position as an attorney because she was a woman. She eventually found employment as a deputy county attorney in San Mateo, California, after she offered to work for no salary and without an office, sharing space with a secretary. When her husband was drafted, she decided to pick up and they remained there for three years before returning to the states, where they settled in Maricopa County, Ariz. to begin their family
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Anthony Kennedy
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Kennedy became the most senior Associate Justice on the court following the death of Antonin Scalia in February 2016. Since the retirement of Sandra Day OConnor in 2006, he has been the swing vote on many of the Courts 5–4 decisions. He has authored the majority ruling in many of these cases, including Lawrence v. Texas, Boumediene v. Bush, Citizens United v. FEC, Kennedy was born and raised in an Irish Catholic family in Sacramento, California. He was the son of Anthony J. Kennedy, an attorney with a reputation for influence in the California legislature, and Gladys, as a boy, Kennedy came into contact with prominent politicians of the day, such as California Governor and later U. S. He served as a page in the California State Senate as a young man, Kennedy attended Stanford University, graduating with a B. A. after spending his senior year at the London School of Economics. He earned an LL. B cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1961, Kennedy has been married to Mary Davis since 1963, and they have three children. Kennedy was in practice in San Francisco from 1961 to 1963. In 1963, following his fathers death, he took over his fathers Sacramento practice, from 1965 to 1988, he was a Professor of Constitutional Law at McGeorge School of Law, at the University of the Pacific. He continues to teach law students at seminars during McGeorges European summer sessions in Salzburg and he remains Pacific McGeorges longest-serving active faculty member. During Kennedys time as a California law professor and attorney, he helped California Governor Ronald Reagan draft a state tax proposal. Kennedy has served in numerous positions during his career, including the California Army National Guard in 1961, Kennedy was unanimously confirmed by the U. S. Senate on March 20 and received his commission on March 24,1975. On November 11,1987, Kennedy was nominated to the Supreme Court seat vacated by Lewis F. Powell, Kennedy was then subjected to an unprecedentedly thorough investigation of his background, which he easily passed. In a lower court dissent that Kennedy had written before joining the Supreme Court, considering such conduct offensive and destructive of the family, Kennedy had written, indifference to personal liberty is but the precursor of the states hostility to it. It does not follow that each of those rights is one that we as judges can enforce under the written Constitution. The Due Process Clause is not a guarantee of every right that should inhere in an ideal system, many argue that a just society grants a right to engage in homosexual conduct. We can extend that slightly to say that Georgias right to be wrong in matters not specifically controlled by the Constitution is a component of its own political processes. Its citizens have the liberty to direct the governmental process to make decisions that might be wrong in the ideal sense. Kennedy said about Griswold v. Connecticut, I really think I would like to draw the line and he also discussed a zone of liberty, a zone of protection, a line thats drawn where the individual can tell the Government, Beyond this line you may not go
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David Souter
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David Hackett Souter is a retired Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He served from October 1990 until his retirement in June 2009 and he was the only Justice during his time on the Court with extensive prior court experience outside of a federal appeals court. Following Souters retirement announcement in May 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor as his successor, Souter was born in Melrose, Massachusetts, on September 17,1939, the only child of Joseph Alexander Souter and Helen Adams Souter. At age 11, he moved with his family to their farm in Weare, in 1961, he graduated with an A. B. magna cum laude as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He was selected as a Rhodes Scholar and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Magdalen College, Oxford and he then entered Harvard Law School, graduating in 1966. As Assistant Attorney General he prosecuted criminal cases in the courts, in 1971, Warren Rudman, then the Attorney General of New Hampshire, selected Souter to be the Deputy Attorney General. Souter succeeded Rudman as New Hampshire Attorney General in 1976, in 1978, with the support of his friend Rudman, Souter was named an Associate Justice of the Superior Court of New Hampshire. As a judge on the Superior Court he heard cases in two counties and was noted for his tough sentencing, with four years of trial court experience, Souter was appointed to the New Hampshire Supreme Court as an Associate Justice in 1983. Shortly after George H. W. Bush was sworn in as President, Souter had had seven years of judicial experience at the appellate level, four years at the trial court level, and ten years with the Attorney Generals office. He was confirmed by unanimous consent of the Senate on April 27,1990, President George H. W. Bush originally considered appointing Clarence Thomas to Brennans seat, but decided that Thomas did not have enough experience as a judge. Souter was seen as a justice whose professional record in the state courts provoked little real controversy. Bush nominated Souter on July 25,1990, saying that he did not know Souters stances on abortion, affirmative action, Senate confirmation hearings were held beginning on September 13,1990. The National Organization for Women opposed Souters nomination and held a rally outside of the Senate during his confirmation hearings, the president of NOW, Molly Yard, testified that Souter would end freedom for women in this country. Souter was also opposed by the NAACP, which urged its 500,000 members to write letters to their senators asking them to no on the nomination. And so we had better use every power of our minds and our hearts, despite the opposition, Souter won an easy confirmation compared to those of later appointees. The Senate Judiciary Committee reported out the nomination by a vote of 14–3, the Senate confirmed the nomination by a vote of 90–9, the nine senators voting against Souter included Ted Kennedy and John Kerry from Souters neighboring state of Massachusetts. These senators, along with seven others, painted Souter as a right-winger in the mold of Robert Bork and they based their claim on Souters friendships with many conservative politicians in New Hampshire. Souter opposed having cameras in the Supreme Court during oral arguments because he said questions would be out of context by the media
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History of the Supreme Court of the United States
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The following is a history of the Supreme Court of the United States, organized by Chief Justice. The court convened for the first time on February 2,1790, the first Chief Justice of the United States was John Jay, the Courts first docketed case was Van Staphorst v. Maryland, and its first recorded decision was West v. Barnes. Perhaps the most controversial of the Supreme Courts early decisions was Chisholm v. Georgia, soon thereafter, responding to the concerns of several states, Congress proposed the Eleventh Amendment, which granted states immunity from certain types of lawsuits in federal courts. The Amendment was ratified in 1795, Jay was succeeded as Chief Justice by John Rutledge, and then by Oliver Ellsworth. No major cases came before the Supreme Court during this time, one of the most significant periods during the history of the Court was the tenure of Chief Justice John Marshall. In the landmark case Marbury v. Madison, Marshall held that the Supreme Court could overturn a law passed by Congress if it violated the Constitution, the Marshall Court also made several important decisions relating to federalism. Marshall took a view of the powers of the federal government—in particular, the interstate commerce clause. For instance, in McCulloch v. Similarly, in Gibbons v. Ogden, the Marshall Court also made several decisions restraining the actions of state governments. The notion that the Supreme Court could consider appeals from state courts was established in Martin v. Hunters Lessee, in several decisions, the Marshall Court confirmed the supremacy of federal laws over state laws. For example, in McCulloch, the Court held that a state could not tax an agency of the federal government. At the same time, however, the Marshall Court held in the landmark case Barron v. Baltimore that the Bill of Rights restricted the government alone. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court would in later years hold that the Fourteenth Amendment had the effect of applying most provisions of the Bill of Rights to the states. Marshalls forceful personality allowed him to steer his fellow Justices, only once did he find himself on the side in a constitutional case. As Oliver Wolcott observed when both he and Marshall served in the Adams administration, Marshall had the knack of putting his own ideas into the minds of others, however, he regularly curbed his own viewpoints, preferring to arrive at decisions by consensus. He adjusted his role to other members of the court as they developed. Marshall had charm, humor, an intelligence, and the ability to bring men together. His sincerity and presence commanded attention and his opinions were workmanlike but not especially eloquent or subtle. His influence on learned men of the law came from the force of his personality
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Jay Court
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The Jay Court refers to the Supreme Court of the United States from 1789 to 1795, when John Jay served as the first Chief Justice of the United States. Jay served as Chief Justice until his resignation, at which point John Rutledge took office as a recess appointment, the court had its first public session in February 1790, but did not decide its first case until 1791. The court met first in New York City, but moved with the rest of the government to Philadelphia in 1791. In addition to their duties as a court, each justice spent much of his time riding circuit outside of the capital, Rutledge resigned in 1791 and was replaced by Thomas Johnson, who resigned in 1793. Johnson was replaced by William Paterson, the justices represented every region of the country, as Washington emphasized geographical balance in making his appointments. The Jay Court ended in 1795, when Jay resigned to become Governor of New York, Jay was replaced via recess appointment by John Rutledge, though Rutledge was denied confirmation by the Senate. Oliver Ellsworth became the third Chief Justice in 1796, Chief Justice Associate Justice The Jay Court did not issue many major rulings, but Chisholm v. Georgia stands as the first important ruling of the Supreme Court. The court held that the state of Georgia could be sued in federal court, however, the Eleventh Amendent, ratified in 1795, granted states sovereign immunity from suits in federal court by citizens of another state
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Ellsworth Court
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The Ellsworth Court refers to the Supreme Court of the United States from 1796 to 1800, when Oliver Ellsworth served as the third Chief Justice of the United States. Ellsworth took office after the Senate refused to confirm the nomination of Chief Justice John Rutledge, Ellsworth served as Chief Justice until his resignation, at which point John Marshall took office. With some exceptions, the Ellsworth Court was the last Supreme Court to use seriatim opinions, the Ellsworth Court began in 1796 when the Senate confirmed President George Washingtons appoint of Ellsworth. The Ellsworth Court began with Ellsworth and four Associate Justices from the Jay Court, William Cushing, James Wilson, James Iredell, and William Paterson. Associate Justice Samuel Chase took office shortly after Ellsworths tenure began, filling the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Blair, Wilson died in 1798, and President John Adams appointed Bushrod Washington to take his seat. Alfred Moore joined the court in 1800 after the death of Iredell
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Marshall Court
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The Marshall Court refers to the Supreme Court of the United States from 1801 to 1835, when John Marshall served as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. Marshall served as Chief Justice until his death, at which point Roger Taney took office, the Marshall Court played a major role in increasing the power of the judicial branch, as well as the power of the national government. The Marshall Court began in 1801, when President John Adams appointed Secretary of State John Marshall to replace the retiring Oliver Ellsworth. The Marshall Court began with Marshall and five Associate Justices from the Ellsworth Court, William Cushing, William Paterson, Samuel Chase, Bushrod Washington, President Thomas Jefferson appointed William Johnson to replace Moore after Moore resigned in 1804. In 1807, Jefferson appointed two justices, as Paterson died and Congress added a new seat for an Associate Justice. Jefferson successfully nominated Henry Brockholst Livingston and Thomas Todd, President James Madison appointed Gabriel Duvall and Joseph Story in 1811 and 1812, replacing Cushing and Chase. Madison had nominated Alexander Wolcott to replace Cushing, but the Senate voted him down, President James Monroe appointed Smith Thompson to succeed Livingston in 1823. President John Quincy Adams successfully nominated Robert Trimble to replace Todd in 1826, Trimble died in 1828, and Adamss nomination of John J. Crittenden was blocked by the Senate. Instead, Trimble was succeeded by John McLean, who was appointed by Andrew Jackson, in 1830, Jackson appointed Henry Baldwin to replace Washington, and in 1834, Jackson appointed James Moore Wayne to replace Johnson. In 1835, Jackson nominated Roger Taney to succeed the retiring Duvall, Marshall died in 1835, and Taney was instead nominated to replace Marshall as Chief Justice. Taney was confirmed in 1836, beginning the Taney Court, Chief Justice Associate Justice Marshall took office during the final months of John Adamss presidency, and his appointment entrenched Federalist power within the judiciary. Marshalls domination of the courts ensured that the government would retain relatively strong powers. Due to the Marshall Courts many accomplishments, President Adams referred to his appointment of Marshall as the proudest act of his life, the Marshall Court issued several major rulings during its tenure, including, Marbury v. In so doing, the court held that a law written by Congress was unconstitutional, the case marked the first time that the court struck down a state law as unconstitutional. The Supreme Court would again uphold this principle in Cohens v. Virginia, mcCulloch v. Maryland, In a unanimous opinion written by Chief Justice Marshall, the court held that the state of Maryland had no power to tax a federal bank operating in Maryland. In so doing, the court upheld Congresss ability to establish the bank, taking a broad view of the Necessary. Dartmouth College v. Woodward, In an opinion written by Chief Justice Marshall, the court held that the Contract Clause protects corporations from having contracts interfered with by the states. Johnson v. MIntosh, In an opinion written by Chief Justice Marshall, gibbons v. Ogden, In an opinion written by Chief Justice Marshall, the court struck down a New York law that had granted a monopoly on steamship operation in the state of New York
