Constitutional Places: The Hospital Where Carrie Buck Was Sterilized

August 10th, 2012

Courtesy of Al Brophy:

The illustration is the hospital building at the what was then known as the “State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded,” where Carrie Buck was sterilized in the wake of Buck v. Bell.

Victoria Nourse’s article, “Buck V. Bell: A Constitutional Tragedy from a Lost World,” is apt:

Some constitutional tragedies are well known: Plessy v. Ferguson and Korematsu v. United States are taught to every first-year law student. Buck v. Bell is not. Decided in 1927 by the Taft Court, the case is known for its shocking remedy — sterilization — and Justice Holmes’s dramatic rhetoric: “Three generations of imbeciles are enough.” A mere five paragraphs long,Buck v. Bell could represent the highest ratio of injustice per word ever signed on to by eight Supreme Court Justices, progressive and conservative alike.

Buck v. Bell is not a tragedy as some others might define tragedy: it is not a well-known opinion, nor did it yield wide popular criticism; it sits as a quiet evil, a tragedy of indifference to the Constitution and its most basic principles. To include Buck as a tragic opinion is to recognize what Hannah Arendt once dubbed the “banality of evil.” Even if grounded in eugenic assumptions widely held at the time, Buck v. Bell was an utterly lawless decision. Holmes treated Carrie Buck’s constitutional claims with contempt. The opinion cites no constitutional text or principle emanating from the text. The only “law” in the opinion must be unearthed from a lost constitutional history embedded in a factual exegesis full of disdain for the Constitution and humanity itself. Few human tragedies can be greater “than the denial of an opportunity to strive or even to hope, by a limit imposed from without, but falsely identified as lying within.” A lawless legitimation of such a principle — one of natural aristocracy — flies in the face of the very constitutional principles on which our nation was founded.

Update: H/T Al Brophy again, the courthouse in Amherst County, Virginia where Buck’s case was first “heard”:

cahayapoker cahayaqq slot thailand slot depo 5k https://desa-pajahan.id/ Pkv Pkvgames Pkv Games Bandarqq Dominoqq Joker123 Joker388 cahayapoker jpslot388 depo 20 bonus 20 https://sfvipplayer.com/ https://pafijp.org Pkv Games Bandarqq Dominoqq https://callanwoldeartsfestival.com/ https://128.199.140.43/ jpslot388 slot2025 slot 2025 slot gacor 2025 https://www.plcdetroit.com/info/aduq/ https://www.plcdetroit.com/info/domino99/ https://www.plcdetroit.com/info/sakong/ https://www.plcdetroit.com/info/qiuqiu/ https://www.plcdetroit.com/update/depo10k/ https://www.plcdetroit.com/update/depo5k/ https://www.plcdetroit.com/update/hitam/ https://www.plcdetroit.com/update/jepang/ https://www.plcdetroit.com/update/joker123/ https://www.plcdetroit.com/update/mpo/ https://www.plcdetroit.com/update/parlay/ https://www.plcdetroit.com/update/sbobet/ https://www.plcdetroit.com/update/sv388/ https://www.plcdetroit.com/update/thailand/ bandarqq dominoqq pkv games https://www.mallorcantonic.com/uploads/bandarqq/ https://www.mallorcantonic.com/uploads/domino99/ https://www.mallorcantonic.com/uploads/dominoqq/ https://www.mallorcantonic.com/uploads/pkv-games https://www.mallorcantonic.com/uploads/qiuqiu/ https://www.healthtimeclinic.com/wp-content/bandarqq/ https://www.healthtimeclinic.com/wp-content/domino99/ https://www.healthtimeclinic.com/wp-content/dominoqq/ https://www.healthtimeclinic.com/wp-content/pkv-games/ https://www.healthtimeclinic.com/wp-content/qiuqiu/ https://spd.grogol-sawoo.desa.id/js/bandarqq/ https://spd.grogol-sawoo.desa.id/js/domino99/ https://spd.grogol-sawoo.desa.id/js/dominoqq/ https://spd.grogol-sawoo.desa.id/js/pkvgames/ https://spd.grogol-sawoo.desa.id/js/qiuqiu/ https://school.smartservice.co.id/public/bandarqq/ https://school.smartservice.co.id/public/domino99/ https://school.smartservice.co.id/public/dominoqq/ https://school.smartservice.co.id/public/pkvgames/ https://school.smartservice.co.id/public/qiuqiu/ https://lmsmtsn7.kemenagngawi.or.id/admin/bandarqq/ https://lmsmtsn7.kemenagngawi.or.id/admin/domino99/ https://lmsmtsn7.kemenagngawi.or.id/admin/dominoqq/ https://lmsmtsn7.kemenagngawi.or.id/admin/pkvgames/ https://lmsmtsn7.kemenagngawi.or.id/admin/qiuqiu/ https://e-learning.mtsn7ngawi.sch.id/htdocs/1win/ https://e-learning.mtsn7ngawi.sch.id/htdocs/75wbet/ https://e-learning.mtsn7ngawi.sch.id/htdocs/asiabet5000/ https://e-learning.mtsn7ngawi.sch.id/htdocs/depobos/ https://e-learning.mtsn7ngawi.sch.id/htdocs/jpslot/ https://e-learning.mtsn7ngawi.sch.id/htdocs/meroket455/ https://e-learning.mtsn7ngawi.sch.id/htdocs/roza123/ https://e-learning.mtsn7ngawi.sch.id/htdocs/sudoku138/ https://e-learning.mtsn7ngawi.sch.id/htdocs/sule99/ https://e-learning.mtsn7ngawi.sch.id/htdocs/wdbos/ https://sriti.desa.id/desa/bandarqq/ https://sriti.desa.id/desa/domino99/ https://sriti.desa.id/desa/dominoqq/ https://sriti.desa.id/desa/pkv-games/ https://sriti.desa.id/desa/qiuqiu/ https://sipadu.bpsaceh.com/uploads/bandarqq/ https://sipadu.bpsaceh.com/uploads/domino99/ https://sipadu.bpsaceh.com/uploads/dominoqq/ https://sipadu.bpsaceh.com/uploads/pkv-games/ https://sipadu.bpsaceh.com/uploads/qiuqiu/ https://lmsmtsn7.kemenagngawi.or.id/admin/slot-depo-5k/ https://lmsmtsn7.kemenagngawi.or.id/admin/slot-mpo/ https://lmsmtsn7.kemenagngawi.or.id/admin/jpslot/ https://lmsmtsn7.kemenagngawi.or.id/admin/slot-depo-10k/ https://menjadiasn.com/wp-includes/bandarqq/ https://menjadiasn.com/wp-includes/dmn99/ https://menjadiasn.com/wp-includes/dmnqq/ https://menjadiasn.com/wp-includes/pkv-games/ https://menjadiasn.com/wp-includes/qiuqiu/ https://sekolah.ardata.co.id/uploads/bandarqq/ https://sekolah.ardata.co.id/uploads/dmn99/ https://sekolah.ardata.co.id/uploads/dmnqq/ https://sekolah.ardata.co.id/uploads/pkv-games/ https://sekolah.ardata.co.id/uploads/qiuqiu/ https://mtsn8banyuwangi.web.id/ https://sekolah.ardata.co.id/uploads/bandarqq/ https://sekolah.ardata.co.id/uploads/dmn99/ https://sekolah.ardata.co.id/uploads/dmnqq/ https://sekolah.ardata.co.id/uploads/pkv-games/ https://sekolah.ardata.co.id/uploads/qiuqiu/ Monkey D. Laundry Monkey D. Laundry Monkey D. Laundry Monkey D. Laundry https://cbt.mtsn7ngawi.sch.id/assets/mpo/ https://cbt.mtsn7ngawi.sch.id/assets/slot-5k/ https://cbt.mtsn7ngawi.sch.id/assets/jpslot/ https://cbt.mtsn7ngawi.sch.id/assets/slot-10k/ https://canopyblue.co/lake/bonus25/ https://canopyblue.co/lake/depo5k/ https://canopyblue.co/lake/dana/ https://canopyblue.co/lake/joker123/ https://canopyblue.co/lake/mpo/ https://canopyblue.co/lake/olympus/ https://canopyblue.co/lake/scatter/ https://canopyblue.co/lake/thai/ https://canopyblue.co/lake/slot777/ bandarqq dominoqq domino99 pkv games qiuqiu bandarqq dominoqq domino99 qiuqiu pkv games aduq sakong bandarqq dominoqq domino99 qiuqiu pkv games aduq sakong https://pnec.nust.edu.pk/wp-content/upgrade/bandarqq/ https://pnec.nust.edu.pk/wp-content/upgrade/cahayapoker/ https://pnec.nust.edu.pk/wp-content/upgrade/cahayaqq/ https://pnec.nust.edu.pk/wp-content/upgrade/domino99/ https://pnec.nust.edu.pk/wp-content/upgrade/dominoqq/ https://pnec.nust.edu.pk/wp-content/upgrade/jawadomino/ https://pnec.nust.edu.pk/wp-content/upgrade/pkvgames/ https://pnec.nust.edu.pk/wp-content/upgrade/pkvslot/ https://pnec.nust.edu.pk/wp-content/upgrade/qiuqiu/ https://pnec.nust.edu.pk/wp-content/upgrade/sakong/ http://westclinic.xsrv.jp/ https://www.redappletravel.com/public/bandarqq/ https://www.redappletravel.com/public/dominoqq/ https://www.redappletravel.com/public/pkv-games/ https://sispadu.com/scss/bandarqq/ https://sispadu.com/scss/dominoqq/ https://sispadu.com/scss/pkv-games/ https://usayhello.com/bandarqq/ https://usayhello.com/dominoqq/ https://usayhello.com/pkv-games/ https://admin.snowcarbon.co.uk/bandarqq/ https://admin.snowcarbon.co.uk/dominoqq/ https://admin.snowcarbon.co.uk/pkv-games/ bandarqq dominoqq pkv-games BANDARQQ DOMINOQQ PKV GAMES BANDARQQ DOMINOQQ PKV GAMES bandarqq dominoqq domino99 qiuqiu pkv games aduq sakong cahayapoker cahayaqq jawadomino