Today in Supreme Court History: August 8

Public Service Board of State of Vermont v. United States, 87 S.Ct. 3 (decided August 8, 1966): Harlan (II) denies stay of ICC order granting motion by Boston & Maine R.R. to discontinue on economic grounds passenger service from Springfield (Mass.) to White River Junction (Vt.); District Court’s stay was premature because administrative remedies not exhausted, and no irreparable injury in letting order go into effect pending full Court review (B & M went bankrupt in 1970, revived under new ownership in 1982 as strictly freight)

Richmond v. Arizona, 434 U.S. 1323 (decided August 8, 1977): Rehnquist denies stay of execution sought pending rehearing of denial of cert; though cert was denied on same day as it was granted in Bell v. Ohio, the cases are different in that Richmond (unlike Bell, who was age 16) did not claim age as a mitigating factor.  (In Bell the Court vacated death penalty; Richmond’s case remanded on a separate issue; the case history runs to 26 cases, ending in 1994 with Arizona Supreme Court reducing sentence to life in prison, which he had largely already served.  Both were named “Willie Lee” by their parents.)

Miroyan v. United States, 439 U.S. 1338 (decided August 8, 1978): Rehnquist denies habeas; no Fourth Amendment violation where gov’t agents attached beeper to rented aircraft utilized to import marijuana

Ward v. United States, 76 S.Ct. 1063 (decided August 8, 1956): In conference, Frankfurter alienated his fellow Justices by delivering hour-long lectures as if he were still a law professor.  If you want to get a flavor of that, read this windy opinion on the history of bail, in which he implicitly lectures the lower court judges as well.  Imagine being Black or Douglas and being subjected to this for 23 years.  Anyway here he affirms the District Court’s denial of bail in a securities action where confidential reports indicated defendants were likely to flee.