Today in Supreme Court History: April 25

United States v. Carolene Products Co., 304 U.S. 144 (decided April 25, 1938): Congress’s Commerce Clause power extends to public safety concerns; upholding statute prohibiting interstate sale of filled milk (sounds gross from the description, but the statute is no longer enforced and you can still buy it in the supermarket); the decision is known for its (unnecessary) footnote 4, where the “presumption of Constitutionality” as to federal statutes is questioned if they involve religion or racial minorities -- the beginning of the “strict scrutiny” idea

Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64 (decided April 25, 1938): All lawyers know this one, where the Court finally abandons Swift v. Tyson, 1842, and holds that on a state law claim a federal court must apply the law of the state in which it sits, and not on any law created by federal courts.  Younger, I., “What Happened in Erie“, 56 Texas L. Rev. 1011-31 (1978), which we were referred to in Civ Pro class, extols the “genius” of the attorney who argued the winning side.  But it was clear that Swift was becoming unworkable (see discussion in Gilmore, “The Death of Contract”, 1974, p. 97), and the product of this “genius” was that Harry Tompkins, injured due to the railroad’s admitted negligence (state law required “gross negligence”), went through life minus his right arm and, being uneducated, was much less employable.  See “The Ballad of Harry James Tompkins”, 52 Akron L. Rev. 531 (2019) (online), which treats his plight with smirking levity but does contain a 1960 photo of the smiling one-armed Tompkins with his wife.

Northern Ins. Co. v. Chatham County, Ga., 547 U.S. 189 (decided April 25, 2006): county was not acting as an “arm of the State” (no,  this is not a joke about Tompkins), therefore does not enjoy Eleventh Amendment immunity from suit for injury due to drawbridge it built

Palmore v. Sidoti, 466 U.S. 429 (decided April 25, 1984): prospect of racial bias against children (e.g., the concerns of the Spencer Tracy character in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?”) is not basis for depriving white mother of custody of child after she married black man

National Society of Professional Engineers v. United States, 435 U.S. 679 (decided April 25, 1978): striking down on antitrust grounds canon of ethics issued by professional association prohibiting competitive bidding; overrides association’s First Amendment Free Speech rights

Gravitt v. Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., 430 U.S. 723 (decided April 25, 1977): order sending removed diversity action back to state court can’t be appealed (there are some exceptions, not noted by the Court but noted by me in my stupefyingly dull Continuing Legal Education course on federal court jurisdiction)

Carson v. Dunham, 121 U.S. 421 (decided April 25, 1887): another removal case (a foreclosure action), this one pointing out that the removing party has the burden to show grounds for removal, i.e., he must establish that plaintiff is not from the same state

Huron Portland Cement Co. v. City of Detroit, Mich., 362 U.S. 440 (decided April 25, 1960): Dormant Commerce Clause did not prohibit Detroit smoke abatement ordinance as applied to docked ships (belching steam boiler smoke) even though they are engaged in interstate commerce

California v. Zook, 336 U.S. 725 (decided April 25, 1949): state statute prohibiting unlicensed transport of passengers (these were customers of a travel agency) not preempted by ICC regime (which exempted “casual, occasional, or reciprocal” transportation)

Duignan v. United States, 274 U.S. 195 (decided April 25, 1927): right to jury trial waived if not demanded (tenant claimed unconstitutionality of claim for repossession due to Prohibition-era liquor nuisance)