In 1958, President Eisenhower designated May 1 “Law Day, USA.” Law Day celebrates the rule of law and its contributions to Americans’ many freedoms. Law Day 2014 is especially significant as we approach the fiftieth anniversaries of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The theme for this year’s observance is American Democracy and the Rule of Law: Why Every Vote Matters, urging every American to reflect on the importance of the right to vote, and challenging them to ensure that all citizens have the opportunity to exercise this right. Additional information on Law Day can be found on the ABA’s Law Day web page.
Legal History
Warren Commission Report Available
In observance of the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, 1963, the U.S. Government Printing Office has made the official, digital version of the Warren Commission Report available on FDsys, the Federal Digital System housing electronic government documents.
The Warren Commission was created by President Lyndon Johnson to investigate the JFK assassination. With 26 volumes of supporting documents, the 900-page Report includes numerous photos, maps and diagrams from the scene in Dallas, Texas. FDsys has also made available post assassination audio tape recordings. Conspiracy theorists and aspiring presidential historians alike should be sure to check them out!
Today in Legal History: Brown v. Board of Education
May 17 marks the anniversary of the unanimous 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Prior to Brown, many parts of the United States permitted segregation in public education based on the principle of ‘separate but equal,’ a doctrine based on the longstanding decision in Plessy v. Ferguson. Brown brought together cases from four different states challenging the validity of that doctrine.
The court considered whether segregation was consistent with the framers’ intent in the Fourteenth Amendment but found little support there for overruling Plessy. In order to forge a unanimous opinion, the justices rested their decision on the critical role education plays in determining personal opportunity and development, finding that racial segregation generated irreversible feelings of inferiority in black children. The court concluded that segregated schools were inherently unequal and abandoned the premise that ‘separate but equal’ did not cause harm or stigmatization.
Further resources:
Landmark Supreme Court Cases: A Reference Guide, Donald E. Lively (Greenwood Press, 1999).
Brown v. Board of Education: Caste, Culture and the Constitution, Robert J. Cottrol (University Press of Kansas, 2003).
Education Law Stories, Michael A. Olivas (Foundation Press, 2007).
Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States, David S. Tanenhaus (Macmillan Reference USA, 2008).
Gideon v. Wainwright
On March 18, 1963, the Supreme Court handed down the decision in Gideon v. Wainwright, a case that made significant changes to the face of criminal law in the United States.
Charged with breaking and entering into a Florida pool hall, Clarence Earl Gideon could not afford an attorney. After being convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment, he appealed and asserted that his conviction was unconstitutional because the trial court refused to appoint counsel. The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision, written by Justice Hugo Black, found that the Sixth Amendment gives criminal defendants the right to counsel when charged with a serious offense, even if they cannot afford it. Gideon was subsequently retried and acquitted.
In ruling that states are required to provide attorneys to indigent criminal defendants, the Supreme Court effectively created the public defender system that is today accepted as an integral part of the legal community.
Further reading:
Gideon’s Trumpet (Book)
Kyung M. Lee, Reinventing Gideon v. Wainwright: Holistic Defenders, Indigent Defendants, and the Right to Counsel, 31 Am. J. Crim. L. 367 (2004). (Article mentions The Bronx Defenders.)
Bruce R. Jacob, Memories and Reflections about Gideon v. Wainwright, 33 Stetson L. Rev. 181 (2003). (The author is the former Florida Assistant Attorney General who argued the case before the United States Supreme Court.)
The Right to Counsel and Privilege Against Self-Incrimination: Rights and Liberties Under the Law
NYLS Site Linked with First African-American Newspaper
Freedom’s Journal, founded in 1827 to provide a voice against racism and intolerance, was the first newspaper published in the United States by and for African-Americans. A number of sources place its home at 236 Church Street, which is today encompassed by NYLS’ 57 Worth Street building. This neighborhood was home to a large number of free northern blacks who, at that time, constituted a small minority in the city.
Freedom’s Journal denounced slavery and lynchings and advocated for black suffrage. It also published articles on how the U.S. legal and political systems helped to perpetuate slavery. But the publication itself was not long-lived. Founding editor John Brown Russwurm published the last issue in 1829, shortly before emigrating to Liberia.
Read more about Freedom’s Journal in the Fall/Winter issue of New York Law School Magazine. You can access a copy of the article here.
Celebrate Constitution Day!
Constitution Day (September 17) commemorates the day the members of the Philadelphia Convention signed the United States Constitution. Of the three delegates from New York, only one participated through to the end and affixed his name: Alexander Hamilton. Revolutionary War veteran and lawyer, Hamilton was also a co-author of The Federalist Papers and the first Secretary of the Treasury. Aligned with the Federalists, the rival party to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison’s Democratic-Republicans, Hamilton founded the New York Post in 1801 with other Federalist Party members. In 1804, he successfully opposed Aaron Burr’s bid to become governor of New York, a bitter dispute that led to the fatal duel, and Hamilton’s death, in July of that year. (An interesting historical footnote: Aaron Burr was a cousin of Theodore Dwight, whose grandson Theodore W. Dwight, a major figure in the history of American legal scholarship, played the central role in the creation of New York Law School in 1891.)
Further reading:
R. B. Bernstein, The Founding Fathers Reconsidered (2009).
R. B. Bernstein, The Constitution as an Exploding Cigar, 55 N.Y.L. Sch. L. Rev. 1073 (2010/11).
Law Day 2012: NO COURTS | NO JUSTICE | NO FREEDOM
Every May 1 the United States observes Law Day, which President Dwight D. Eisenhower set aside as a day for Americans to reflect on the role of law in the foundation of our country and its importance for society. The theme for 2012, No Courts | No Justice | No Freedom, focuses on the importance of courts, their role in ensuring access to justice for all Americans and how severe funding cuts are affecting the court system’s ability to fulfill this role. Explore the links below to learn more about Law Day and the many related events.
Making the Case: Highlighting the Importance of the Nation’s Courts
Thomas More, Patron Saint of Lawyers
Born on February 7, 1477, Thomas More was an English lawyer, statesman, author, scholar, dedicated father, early proponent of education for women, and eventually, a saint. Raised in London, he entered the bar around 1501 after studies at Oxford and legal apprenticeship. Politics followed shortly afterwards with his election to Parliament in 1504. He eventually rose to the high office of Chancellor in 1529. More’s strongly held religious convictions brought him into conflict with the king when Henry VIII established the Church of England. More could not bring himself to acknowledge the king as supreme to the Pope, which led to his trial and execution for treason in 1535. He was canonized in 1935 and is the patron saint of a variety of groups, including lawyers.
Douglas Linder, The Trial of Sir Thomas More, Famous Trials, http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/more/more.html (last visited February 3, 2012).
A Man for All Seasons (Highland Films 1966).
More, Sir Thomas, http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0833989.html (last visited February 3, 2012).