Today in Supreme Court History: March 12

Hale v. Henkel, 201 U.S. 43 (decided March 12, 1906): rejecting witness’s claim of Fifth Amendment privilege in federal grand jury proceeding because enjoyed federal immunity even though state prosecution possible (overruled by Murphy v. Waterfront Comm’n of New York Harbor, 1964, which held that grant of immunity in state grand jury proceedings also extended to possible federal prosecution)

Davis v. Wood, 14 U.S. 6 (decided March 12, 1816): another case, like Queen v. Hepburn, holding that free birth cannot be proved via hearsay (slaves tried to show that their grandmother was known to have been white and born in England)

Claiborne v. United States, 465 U.S. 1305 (decided March 12, 1984): Rehnquist refuses to stay bribery and tax evasion prosecution against federal judge; rejects judge’s argument that he can’t be criminally prosecuted until impeached and removed (Claiborne was convicted later in 1984 and went to jail; wasn’t impeached and removed until 1986)

United States v. Contract Steel Carriers, 350 U.S. 409 (decided March 12, 1956): business licensed to transport highway construction materials did not qualify as “common carrier” (and subject to all those regulations) simply because it aggressively solicited business within the scope of its license

Northwestern Bands of Shoshone Indians v. United States, 324 U.S. 335 (decided March 12, 1945): citing Johnson v. M’Intosh (grrr. . . see summary of that case, February 28), Court holds that Indians have only what the white man gives them, and if no specific reservation created by Act of Congress, then they have no rights in ancestral land (the Shoshone seem to concede this, basing their claim to 15 million acres on an 1863 treaty, but Court holds the treaty gave them only occupancy rights; opinion’s historical account is sympathetic to them)

Massey v. United States, 291 U.S. 608 (decided March 12, 1934): dismisses rum-running case because no final judgment before Prohibition repealed

Ohio ex rel. Bryant v. Akron Metropolitan Park District, 281 U.S. 74 (decided March 12, 1930): only Congress can determine whether each state has a “republican form of government” (art. IV, §4); Court can’t rule on whether a state can create park districts which can acquire land and levy taxes

Fox Film Corp. v. Knowles, 261 U.S. 326 (decided March 12, 1923): upholding executor’s statutory right to renew copyright even though testator had lost the right to (because he had missed the one-year deadline at the time of death) (the copyright was for a play based on this poem, https://internetpoem.com/will-carleton/over-the-hill-from-the-poor-house-poem/; not a subject for Eugene O’Neill)

United States v. Cress, 243 U.S. 316 (decided March 12, 1917): flooding of private person’s milldam, ford and other land on Cumberland River due to government construction of dam was a “taking” requiring compensation

Florida ex rel. Hawkins v. Board of Control, 350 U.S. 413 (decided March 12, 1956): admission of black student to state law school could not await determination of desegregation issues in elementary and secondary schools