QotD: Supreme Court
Posted June 14th, 2003 @ 02:34pm by Erik J. Barzeski
Question: If you could have been on the United States Supreme Court for any single case in its history, which would you select and why?
My Answer: The Microsoft case. Especially given recent news that - oops - their browser will now be part of their OS. After all, that was a big part of the reason they were sued - and convicted of - monopoly/antitrust violations. Right? This case may have the biggest impact on my life directly. Roe v. Wade? Very indirectly affects my life. Computing? Very much so.
You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.
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Posted 15 Jun 2003 at 3:08pm #
Plessy vs Ferguson would be my choice. Not that it would have made much difference seeing as the vote was 8-1, but maybe two dissenting justices could have made a bigger impact. Who knows.
(By the way, the Microsoft case never went to the Supreme Court. The Court rejected the case and handed it back down to the lower courts.)
Posted 15 Jun 2003 at 3:11pm #
The Dred Scott decision, without a doubt.
Posted 15 Jun 2003 at 3:42pm #
Jeff, you're right: I'd have first accepted the case, then squashed MS like a bug. 🙂
Posted 15 Jun 2003 at 7:06pm #
The Gore v Bush election, definitely.
Posted 15 Jun 2003 at 7:10pm #
Trouble with Dred Scott (great link, btw) is that it was a 7-2 decision, so while it would have made a nice token gesture to make it 6-3 decision, I'd rather be part of a case where I was the swing vote.
Posted 15 Jun 2003 at 7:21pm #
The Amistad revolt case. I would be curious to see how the white, southern, slave-owning judges who sat on the bench at that time could justify setting a small group of blacks free while thousands in this country would remain in bondage. Besides that, it was, to me, a fascinating case.
Posted 19 Jun 2003 at 4:10am #
since Dred Scott was already suggested, i'll go with Eldred v. Ashcroft.