Supreme Court decision naming
OK, so there's this meme going around:
As evidenced by 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 historical your lj. (Any decision, as long as it’s not Roe v. Wade.)
Let's be clear on this. I hate Sarah Palin, as a politician and very possibly as a person. I stare transfixed at her fumbling deer-in-headlights responses to, say, any question at all she gets asked.
But this is an unfair characterization. She wasn't asked to name any Supreme Court case at all, she was asked:
Couric: What other Supreme Court decisions do you disagree with?
Palin: Well, let's see. There's, of course in the great history of America there have been rulings, that's never going to be absolute consensus by every American. And there are those issues, again, like Roe v. Wade, where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So you know, going through the history of America, there would be others but …
Couric: Can you think of any?
Palin: Well, I could think of … any again, that could be best dealt with on a more local level.
There are lots of Supreme Court cases I can name, and possibly even describe, off the top of my head. Marbury v. Madison. Miranda v. Arizona (I think it was Arizona). Brown v. Board of Education. And, er, all right, a few I can't actually come up with the name but I can describe, like "fire in a crowded theater/clear and present danger", and Red Lion where I can't recall the other party's name, and the "F*** the Draft" case. But there aren't all that many I can name that I'd actively disagree with. Well, there was that sexual harassment suit I was discussing the other day in relation to the whatshername v. Library of Congress thing; there was the Georgia capital punishment case; and my wife reminded me that I wasn't thrilled with the decision that a state had the right to seize (and pay for) land they deemed was needed for the public good. (Late addition, since it was a case I'd forgotten about until looking up Tinker v. Des Moines, below: Morse v. Frederick, which is worth mentioning because (a) I strongly disagree that "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" is unprotected speech, and (b) it happened in Alaska.)
Skimming my friendslist, people've posted about Marbury v. Madison, and Loving v. Virginia, Brown v. Board of Education...are these cases you would have named if Katie Couric had asked you to name a case you disagree with? Or even that you think Palin should have named? (Michelle said "Dred Scott", but that's not exactly current law of the land.)
I'm in favor of the meme in general-spread the word about Supreme Court cases, by all means. I'll point y'all to the aforementioned Cohen v. California (I looked it up). But give Palin at least a small amount of credit.
(Via Google search, some perhaps better answers, insofar as Palin might have disagreed with them: Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, and conceivably Tinker v. Des Moines. Partial credit to US v. Nixon, which Palin might disagree with but saying so isn't a great way to distance herself from Dick Cheney. There were others, e.g. Buck v. Bell and Plessy v. Ferguson, but since those have been overturned or otherwise negated by later rulings, they hardly seem to count.)
As evidenced by 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 historical your lj. (Any decision, as long as it’s not Roe v. Wade.)
Let's be clear on this. I hate Sarah Palin, as a politician and very possibly as a person. I stare transfixed at her fumbling deer-in-headlights responses to, say, any question at all she gets asked.
But this is an unfair characterization. She wasn't asked to name any Supreme Court case at all, she was asked:
Couric: What other Supreme Court decisions do you disagree with?
Palin: Well, let's see. There's, of course in the great history of America there have been rulings, that's never going to be absolute consensus by every American. And there are those issues, again, like Roe v. Wade, where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So you know, going through the history of America, there would be others but …
Couric: Can you think of any?
Palin: Well, I could think of … any again, that could be best dealt with on a more local level.
There are lots of Supreme Court cases I can name, and possibly even describe, off the top of my head. Marbury v. Madison. Miranda v. Arizona (I think it was Arizona). Brown v. Board of Education. And, er, all right, a few I can't actually come up with the name but I can describe, like "fire in a crowded theater/clear and present danger", and Red Lion where I can't recall the other party's name, and the "F*** the Draft" case. But there aren't all that many I can name that I'd actively disagree with. Well, there was that sexual harassment suit I was discussing the other day in relation to the whatshername v. Library of Congress thing; there was the Georgia capital punishment case; and my wife reminded me that I wasn't thrilled with the decision that a state had the right to seize (and pay for) land they deemed was needed for the public good. (Late addition, since it was a case I'd forgotten about until looking up Tinker v. Des Moines, below: Morse v. Frederick, which is worth mentioning because (a) I strongly disagree that "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" is unprotected speech, and (b) it happened in Alaska.)
Skimming my friendslist, people've posted about Marbury v. Madison, and Loving v. Virginia, Brown v. Board of Education...are these cases you would have named if Katie Couric had asked you to name a case you disagree with? Or even that you think Palin should have named? (Michelle said "Dred Scott", but that's not exactly current law of the land.)
I'm in favor of the meme in general-spread the word about Supreme Court cases, by all means. I'll point y'all to the aforementioned Cohen v. California (I looked it up). But give Palin at least a small amount of credit.
(Via Google search, some perhaps better answers, insofar as Palin might have disagreed with them: Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, and conceivably Tinker v. Des Moines. Partial credit to US v. Nixon, which Palin might disagree with but saying so isn't a great way to distance herself from Dick Cheney. There were others, e.g. Buck v. Bell and Plessy v. Ferguson, but since those have been overturned or otherwise negated by later rulings, they hardly seem to count.)