Sometimes, we think we are currently living in unprecedented times — and to be sure, some items, like a former president of the United States being indicted, is truly unprecedented — and then other times, we dive into history and realize how often certain concerns permeate the body politic and recirculate through each generation that follows One of those concerns is the independence of the judiciary, and specifically, the independence of the Supreme Court of the United States as a co-equal branch of government leading us to the age-old question: Who judges the judges? The Court at War is a sweeping look at the ways in which WWII and the fight for civil rights arrived at the Court’s magisterial doorstep, and how the Justices responded, often in what seem like contradictory, flawed ways, both for the good of future jurisprudence and the historically awful.
Over the course of his presidency leading into WWII, FDR appointed seven of the nine justices, and elevated an eighth to Chief Justice. That’s the most since Washington, and obviously, hasn’t been matched or surpassed since, although Eisenhower and Nixon were close. These justices were FDR’s, and to put it more pointedly, they were largely obsequious to him. In this SDG we'll look at the cases and why certain Justices go one way or another with them, often contrary to what our preconceived notions are.
To entice you, consider one of the first major decisions from the Court which essentially deemed California’s “Okie Laws” unconstitutional; a law which was enacted to prevent poor people from moving to California at the height of the Great Depression. Sound familiar? As our co-participants examine the views of the Justices, who essentially deferred to the wisdom of FDR, we may gain perspective. or just conclude that the judiciary has not always been co-equal, independent branch of government. Do you. have visions of lively discussions? Join us..
Week one. Prologue to Pearl Harbor, (Prologue, Chapters 1 and 2)
Week two. The war and protections of the Bill of Rights (Chapters 3, 4 and 5)
Week three Administrative skills to herd the other justices and politics in selecting a replacement justice (Chapters 6 and 7)
Week four Thurgood Marshall's maiden voyage and conscientious objection (Chapters 8, and 9)
Week five. Internment and curfews (Chapters 10 and 11)
Week six. A Jewish justice? is price control a valid wartime power? (Chapters 12 and 13)
Week seven Victories over fascism and race discrimination and Douglas for Vice President? ( Chapters 14 and 15)
Cliff Sloan, The Court at War: FDR, His Justices, and the World They Made, Public Affairs, 2023, 484 pages
Additional readings to be supplied as PDF files which are available to read/use at your discretion (THESE ARE NOT REQUIRED READINGS)
Week one :
Case Overview: Edwards v. California, 314 U.S. 160 (1941)
THE DEMONIZATION OF (IM)MIGRANTS: Dust Bowl Refugees, the Supreme Court, and the Right to Travel
The Pearl Harbor controversy, 1941-1946
Roberts Commission report
Week two:
Analysis: Ex Parte Milligan
Constitutional Law--Sterilization (Skinner v. Oklahoma ex rel. Williamson, 315 U.S. 789 (1942))
Skinner v. Oklahoma: How Two McAlester Lawyers Derailed Criminal Sterilization in America
Week three:
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-DENATURALIZATION UNDER THE IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT OF 1952
Ex Parte Quirin: The Nazi Saboteur Case and the Tribunal Precedent
The laws will fall silent : Ex Parte Quirin, a troubling precedent for military commissions.
Week four:
The Legacy of Thurgood Marshall
Not Such a Fixed Star After All: West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, and the Changing Meaning of the First Amendment Right Not To Speak
Week five:
Japanese American Internment
An Informal and Limited Alliance": The President and the Supreme Court
Axis Nation 'Detainees' and in the West during Japanese Enemy Aliens World War II
Civil Liberties and the Japanese American Cases: A Study in the Uses of Stare Decisis
Courts and the Executive in Wartime: A Comparative Study of the American and British Approaches to the Internment of Citizens during World War II and Their Lessons for Today
Disastrously Misunderstood: Judicial Deference in the Japanese-American Cases
The Polarized World at the End of Fascism: An Examination of Hirabayashi Taiko's "Blind" Chinese Soldiers
Relocation and Internment: Civil Rights Lessons from World War II
When the Supreme Court Justi1ed Japanese Internment Camps | Korematsu v. United States (On YouTube)
Week six:
THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE WAGE & PRICE CONTROL LEGISLATION In Amalgamated Meat Cutters v. Connally
THE TRAGEDY OF FELIX FRANKFURTER:
Week Seven
A Commander's Power, a Civilian's Reason: Justice Jackson's "Korematsu" Dissent
SMITH V. ALLWRIGHT: THE LDF VOTING RIGHTS CASE THAT “CHANGED THE WHOLE COMPLEXION OF THE SOUTH”