Showing papers on "Supreme Court Decisions published in 1977"

Plessy v. ferguson: a reinterpretation

Abstract: There have been three momentous Supreme Court decisions in the history of Afro-Americans: Dred Scott v. Sanford, Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. The Board of Education. In contrast to Dred Scott, Plessy was decided after the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment which prohibited discriminatory state action in regard to equal protection of the laws and due process of law and after the coming of Social Darwinism which included a body of sociological theories utilized to supplement American conservatism. Considering the historical background of the times, Robert Harris regarded Plessy as "a compound of bad logic, bad history, bad sociology, and bad constitutional law." I Despite the historical significance of Plessy, its historiography is sparing, cursory, tangential and misleading. Among the outstanding monograph essays on the topic are: C. Vann Woodward's cursory historical account of the case in his article "The Birth of Jim Crow: Plessy v. Ferguson;" the brief and over-simplified account of the "separate but equal" origin in Leonard Levy and Harlan Phillips' article "The Roberts Case;" and two articles by Barton Bernstein in the Journal of Negro History interpreting the Plessy decision as sociological jurisprudence, and his 1962 case study analysis criticizing the Louisiana Supreme Court for misleading the United States Supreme Court in regard to state statutes and legal issues.2 Significant related essays on Plessy may be found in Otto H. Olsen's documentary compilation The Thin Disguise, and a similar documentary edition by Albert P. Blaustein and Clarence Clyde Ferguson, Jr. entitled Desegregation and the Law. There are several essays, articles and books explaining the historical problems and different interpretations of Jim Crow history. Of major importance are: John Hope Franklin, "History of Racial Segregation in the United States;" August Meier and Elliott Rudwick, "A Strange Chapter in the Career of Jim Crow"-a study on Black opposition to street car segregation in Savannah, Georgia; Joel Williamson (ed.), The Origins of Segregation, which is a collection of controversial essays on the topic; a series of articles by Alexander M. Bickel, John P. Frank and Robert F. Munro and Alfred Kelly indicating that the Fourteenth Amendment did not require the Supreme Court to embrace the "separate but equal" principle, and Alan Westin's valuable analysis of Justice John Marshall Harlan in his "John Marshall Harlan and the Constitutional Rights of Negroes: The Transformation of a Southerner."3 The most popular reference in regard to recent segregation is C. Vann Woodward's Strange Career of Jim Crow; but the most thorough study of underlying economic factors, politics, philosophy and

The Supreme Court and the Constitution: Readings in American Constitutional History

Abstract: The new Third Edition covers cases down to the present, including important decisions on racial discrimination, privacy, the rights of women, the "new equal protection" and the welfare state, and executive power. The cases, selected for their long-standing significance for constitutional law, are arranged in chronological fashion and further subdivided into pertinent topical categories. Headnotes for each case are designed to familiarize the reader with the historical and constitutional context, the factual background, and the relationship of the case to prior and subsequent ones. While the cases are, of course, edited, generous extracts are provided so that the reader may more fully understand the legal, political, social, and economical considerations employed in a judicial decision. Where appropriate, portions of dissenting opinions are included. Emphasis is on cases which best depict the Supreme Court's role in the making of public policy, particularly those Supreme Court decisions that have served as an instrument for reform and change.

The Standardization of Lawyers’ Services

Abstract: Recent Supreme Court decisions dealing with advertising by lawyers have focused new attention on the question whether lawyers perform services that are standardized or susceptible of standardization. The author examines the concept of standardization as applied to lawyers’ services and suggests five indicators that might reveal the extent to which such services are or could become standardized. He also discusses bow advertising could accelerate the standardization of lawyers’ services and briefly raises questions about what this will mean to lawyers and the public.

Disaster by Decree: The Supreme Court Decisions on Race and the Schools

Abstract: Book review of "Disaster by Decree: The Supreme Court Decisions on Race and the Schools" by Lino A. Graglia.

Marketing and the U. S. Supreme Court, 1968-1974:

Abstract: N THE PAST, reviews of the decisions of the U. S. Supreme Court affecting marketing have been premised on two contentions: 1. That what the Supreme Court does is of vital concern to contemporary marketers (the contours of marketing organizations and operations being affected by its decisions in important ways). 2. That Supreme Court decisions are binding upon business with the same force and generality as if the Court's holdings were legislative enactments or executive decrees.1 A review of the decisions of the Supreme Court over the past seven terms, 1968-1974, strengthens those premises and outlines the new constraints that modern marketing faces. Moreover, such an analysis reveals not only that organizational structure and operational practices have experienced modifications, but also that extensive and important alterations have occurred in the procedural rules and regulations facing marketing organizations. Territorial Allocations Systems