supreme folk!

[jlh]

As was demonstrated in an interview with Katie Couric, Sarah Palin is unable to name any Supreme Court Case other than Roe v. Wade.

The Rules: Post info about ONE Supreme Court decision, modern or historic, to your lj. (Any decision, as long as it's not Roe v. Wade.) For those who see this on your f-list, take the meme to your OWN lj to spread the fun.

My own sentimental favorite, of course, is Loving v Virginia. And Brown v the Board of Education of Topeka, KS is a perennial. But since I'm an American historian-in-training, allow me to give you a few others to select from:

Lawrence v Texas
Plessy v Ferguson
Marbury v Madison
Griswold v Connecticut
Brandenburg v Ohio
Boy Scouts of America v Dale
Regents of the University of California v Bakke
Campbell v Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.
Kitzmiller v Dover Area School District
Dred Scott v Sandford
Miranda v Arizona
Gideon v Wainwright
Miller v California
Miller v United States
New York Times Co. v United States
United States v Nixon
Flood v Kuhn
Reno v American Civil Liberties Union
Sony Corp. of America v Universal City Studios, Inc.
MGM Studios, Inc. v Grokster, Ltd.
Batson v Kentucky
United States v Harris
United States v Paramount Pictures, Inc.
United States v Sioux Nation of Indians
United States v Wong Kim Ark

Comments

[boosette.livejournal.com]

I have to confess, Gideon vs Wainwright is my favorite of the above - probably due to having had to watch the movie about three times over the course of high school & junior college.

(How the fuck does she not know Miranda vs. Arizona. Everyone with a tv knows Miranda vs. Arizona.)

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I don't think everyone knows that it was a Supreme Court decision, and it's only those 60s and 70s cop shows that tend to actually say "miranda" instead of just "read him his rights."

I admit that I can't always remember the actual names of the cases with the exception of the ones I teach every year, Plessy and Brown and Loving. But I remembered issues in the court and googled them that way.

[dana-kujan.livejournal.com]

I think you missed Bush v. Gore.

[darth-kittius.livejournal.com]

I was just going to say the same thing.... the one that gave us the last eight years....

[jlh.livejournal.com]

It wasn't a comprehensive list, just a list of cases I didn't think other people would think of, so that my flist wasn't awash in Brown--of the four people on my flist who had done the meme when I posted this, two of them used Brown.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I was trying to think of cases that other people wouldn't think of, so there would be more variety in the meme. Of the four people who had posted the meme on my flist when I made this post, two of them had used Brown. Bush v Gore, people should be able to remember--and, frankly, Loving since so much was made of its 40th anniversary last year. Griswold v Connecticut, maybe not so much.

[andstillitmoves.livejournal.com]

even I know about Brown. And the recent second amendment case. And Miranda rights! And I have heard of most of the ones on your list. Just. Palin. Bzuh?

[malsperanza.livejournal.com]

I'd sat the exercise is a little different: She was asked to name a decision that she disagreed with. It's possible, of course, that she disagrees with all the cases listed above, back to Marbury.

When I tried to think of Court decisions I've disagreed with, I went quite blank too, even though there are oodles of them. Plessy v Ferguson, Dred Scott, and an obscure 2004 appeal of the Copyright Extension Act, called Eldred, were the only ones I could think of.

What shocked me much more was her excuse: "a Vice President, if I'm so privileged to serve, wouldn't be in a position of changing those things [i.e., Supreme Court decisions] but in supporting the law of the land as it reads today."

Has anyone explained to her that the VP breaks ties in the Senate, and that the Senate, uh, confirms appointments to the, um, Supreme Court?

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I would probably in answer to that question said U of California v Bakke, actually, though I would have said, "that affirmative action case in California" because I don't always have a great head for names.

Man, I am so watching live tonight, for reals.

[malsperanza.livejournal.com]

See? Bakke--I totally forgot Bakke. Also upholding the 3-strikes law. Also vouchers for religious schools, states rights crap, gaah, there's plenty. None of it came to mind.

$10 says the post-debate spin on the networks is all about whether Gwen Ifil is biased.