Minimum Competence

On this day in legal history, September 18, noted jurist and Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story was born. He got a lot of things right, and a lot of things wrong. Joseph Story, born on September 18, 1779, in Marblehead, Massachusetts, hailed from a family with a rich history of involvement in significant events leading up to the American Revolution. Despite initial aspirations in poetry, Story eve...

On this day in legal history, September 15, 1935, the Nuremberg Laws of Nazi Germany went into effect, reorienting German citizenship around the exclusion of Jewish residents and laying the groundwork for what was to come.   As we’ve tried to make clear in previous “this day in legal history” segments where we’ve focused on Germany in the 1930s, the lesson to be learned from a legal perspective de...

On this day in legal history, September 14, 1918, Eugene Debs was sentenced to ten years in prison for opposing the United States entry into World War I.  In the early 20th century, Eugene V. Debs, a prominent socialist and labor organizer, rose to prominence as a vocal critic of capitalist structures and the American involvement in the First World War. Born to French immigrants in Indiana, Debs l...

On this day in legal history, September 13, 1971, the Attica Correctional Facility prison revolt came to an end when National Guardsmen took back control of the prison–in so doing 43 people died, all but four from law enforcement’s efforts to regain control. The Attica Prison Uprising, a grim milestone in the history of prisoners' rights movement, occurred from September 9 to 13, 1971, at the Atti...

On this day in legal history, September 12, 1958 the Supreme Court unanimously rejected Kansas’ challenge to the court’s authority to desegregate schools. The decision was authored by all nine justices – the only time that had happened to that point or since.  The Cooper v. Aaron case, decided on September 12, 1958, was a significant milestone in the civil rights movement in the United States. Fol...

In terms of this day in history generally, specifically American history, September 11th is synonymous with the terrorist attacks in 2001. In terms of legal history, however, while it gave rise to a lot of changes in the American legal system, it is of somewhat less import as the days that followed and policy changes that were made in response to the attacks. For that reason, today in legal histor...

On this day in legal history, September 8, 1974, President Ford pardoned President Nixon, establishing the doctrine of “we haven’t held our elected leaders accountable to this point and we sure as heck aren’t starting now.” So, on this day in history, we revisit September 8, 1974, when President Gerald Ford issued Proclamation 4311 , granting his predecessor, Richard Nixon, a full and unconditiona...

This day in legal history, September 7, 1977, President Carter signed the Panama Canal Treaty , setting the relinquishment date for the Panama Canal back to Panama for January 1, 2000.  In the early 20th century, the U.S. secured rights to build and operate the Panama Canal, initially through the Hay-Herrán Treaty with Colombia, but eventually through the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty with Panama, post...

This day in legal history, September 6, is a dark one – but one that should not be ignored just because it is difficult to talk about. On September 6, 1941, German authorities announced the adoption of a regulation requiring all Jewish people in German territories to wear the Star of David. For our purposes here on a legal news website, we’ll talk about how it highlights and exemplifies the Nazi r...

On this day in history, September 5, 1774, about 9 miles as the crow flies from where I’m writing this, the first Continental Congress convened to discuss the Intolerable Acts of 1774. On September 5, 1774, the First Continental Congress convened at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, marking a pivotal moment in America's journey to independence. Representatives from twelve of the thirteen American...

On this day in history, September 1, 1807, Aaron Burr, former Vice President and notable shooter of Alexander Hamilton, was acquitted of treason.  Aaron Burr's 1807 treason trial was a landmark case and one of the earliest tests of the U.S. Constitution's Treason Clause, outlined in Article III, Section 3. The clause was carefully crafted to limit the charge of treason to the most serious of crime...

On this day in history, August 31, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson, the B. stood for Baines don’t you know, signed a law illegalizing the burning of draft cards. The act, known as the Draft Card Mutilation Act of 1965 carried with it steep penalties: Individuals found to have violated the restriction could be subject to a five year prison sentence and $1000 fine.  In the United States v. O'Brien...

On this day in history, August 30, 1967 Thurgood Marshall was confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice, becoming the first African-American to be seated on the court.  Thurgood Marshall was a pioneering American civil rights lawyer and jurist, serving as the first African-American associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1967 to 1991. Before his time on the bench, he was a leading attorney for...

Find links to all the following stories as well as other law and legal-adjacent stories at esq.social Links . On this day in history August 29, 1957, the Civil Rights Act of 1957 was passed by congress – the first piece of federal legislation aimed at civil rights since reconstruction. Prompted by the Supreme Court's landmark 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education , which ignited public debate...

On this day in history August 28, 2003, the Supreme Court of Alabama removed a monument of the Ten Commandments from its courthouse.  The Ten Commandments monument in the Alabama Supreme Court building was initially installed by Chief Justice Roy Moore, garnering support from evangelical Christians nationwide. However, Moore's refusal to comply with a federal court order to remove the monument by...

On this day in history, August 25, 1921, the U.S.–German Peace Treaty was signed in Berlin, marking a significant moment in the aftermath of World War I. The treaty was necessitated by the U.S. Senate's refusal to ratify the multilateral peace treaty signed in Versailles, leading to a separate peace agreement with Germany. The U.S. had declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, and was part of the...

On this day in history, August 24, 1894, the US Congress passed the first graduated income tax law, 2% on all income over $4,000, which lasted a year before it was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and overturned.  The tax, which was imposed under the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act , slightly reduced U.S. tariff rates from those set in the 1890 McKinley tariff and imposed a 2% tax on income...

On this day in legal history, August 23 1927, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed in the United States. They were Italian-born American anarchists who were controversially convicted of murdering a guard and a paymaster during an armed robbery in 1920. Their trial and execution sparked protests and debates about the justice system, immigration, and political radicalism. Many were cri...

On this day in legal history, August 22 1996, welfare as we knew it was ended and millions of folks living in precarity had the rug ripped out from under their feet. The so-called "Welfare to Work" bill signed by President Bill Clinton in August 1996 was a contentious piece of legislation that aimed to move individuals from welfare to employment, premised on the flawed notion that those unable to...

On this day in legal history, August 21, 1878, the American Bar Association or ABA was formed. The American Bar Association (ABA) was established on August 21, 1878, in Saratoga Springs, New York, marking a pivotal moment in American legal history. At a time when the legal profession was primarily comprised of sole practitioners, 100 lawyers from 21 states founded the ABA with the stated aim of ad...

On this day in legal history, on August 18, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified by the states – beginning in earnest the path to women’s suffrage.  The fight for women's suffrage in the United States began after the war for independence, where most states denied women the right to vote. Throughout the 19th century, leaders like Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cad...

On this day in legal history, August 17, 1870, Esther Morris became the first female magistrate appointed in the United States.  Esther Hobart Morris was the first female Justice of the Peace in the U.S., appointed in Wyoming Territory in 1869. Though some credit her with the success of the woman's suffrage amendment in Wyoming, she credited William H. Bright. Born in 1814 in New York, she was a s...

On this day in legal history, August 16, 1918, Lothar Witzke was convicted of espionage in the United States on behalf of Germany and became the first German spy convicted during World War I.  Lothar Witzke was a junior officer in the German Imperial Navy during World War I, who became a spy and saboteur in the United States and Mexico. After escaping internment in Chile, he reached San Francisco...

On this day in legal history, we have a low point in American history. On August 15, 1876, the US Congress passed a “starve or sell” bill that cut off support for the Sioux Indian nation unless they gave up the gold-laden Black Hills. This was two months after the US army was routed at the Battle of Little Bighorn and brought to an end the Great Sioux War of 1876.  In the years leading up to the B...

On this day in legal history, August 14, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act. The act created unemployment insurance, pension plans for the elderly and what would become “Aid to Families with Dependent Children” (AFDC).  In the midst of the Great Depression, the Social Security Act was conceived to provide economic security for the aged. Early in January 1935, the...