Today in Supreme Court History: September 3

Knickerbocker Printing Corp. v. United States, 75 S.Ct. 212 (decided September 3, 1954): in Eminent Domain case alleging inadequate compensation for demolishing a building to erect a VA hospital, Jackson reluctantly grants 20-day extension for filing cert; counsel’s excuse was that he was busy in the lower courts (!), but new rule precluding this excuse just went into effect; Jackson requests that the New York Law Journal and the Second Circuit post warnings to all attorneys for future reference (cert ended up being denied anyway, 348 U.S. 875)

Gruner v. Superior Court of California, 429 U.S. 1314 (decided September 3, 1976): reporters ordered jailed until they answered questions as to grand jury sources seek stay of commitment on the ground that there was no “due process hearing” to determine whether jailing them would achieve its purpose of forcing them to cooperate; Rehnquist notes that this argument amounts to “you can’t jail us if we can prove it won’t work!”; denies stay