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ConLaw Class 9 – The Executive Power I

September 12th, 2018

The lecture notes are here.

Ex Parte Merryman

Ex Parte Merryman was authored by Chief Justice Roger Taney. At the time, he was serving at the Circuit Court, District of Maryland, and not the Supreme Court.

This is the most famous portrait of Taney.

Here is Taney later in life:

This bust of Taney appears in the Supreme Court’s Great Hall.

As we will discuss later, Taney is a controversial Justice. Frederick, Maryland agreed to remove his bust from public grounds. It was previously vandalized.

The Emancipation Proclamation

Here is the original copy of the Emancipation Proclamation.

A reproduction of the Proclamation:

The Emancipation Proclamation did not have effect in slave states that remained in the Union, as well as certain territories within the Confederacy that remained loyal.

 

Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer

This is a postcard of the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Mill.

youngstown-postcard

Here are photographs of the actual steel mill at issue in Youngstown, Ohio.

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youngstown2

youngstown3

This is Secretary of Commerce Charles Sawyer, whom Truman ordered to seize the steel mill.

CharlesSawyer

The lead opinion in Youngstown was authored by Justice Hugo Black.

Hugo_Black

There were also concurring opinions written by five Justices. This is Justice Felix Frankfurter.

frankfurter

This is Justice William O. Douglas.

douglas

This is Justice Robert H. Jackson. Justice Jackson, who would serve as the lead prosecutor at Nuremberg, authored what has been seen as the definitive opinion in Youngstown.

robert-jackson

This is Justice Tom C. Clark (a graduate of University of Texas at Austin).

Tom_Clark_portrait

Chief Justice Vinson dissented, joined by Justices Reed and Minton.

FredVinson

You can read Executive Order 10340, Executive Order 10340 – Directing the Secretary of Commerce to Take Possession of and Operate the Plants and Facilities of Certain Steel Companiesm, here:

NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, and as President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the armed forces of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:

1. The Secretary of Commerce is hereby authorized and directed to take possession of all or such of the plants, facilities, and other property of the companies named in the list attached hereto, or any part thereof, as he may deem necessary in the interests of national defense; and to operate or to arrange for the operation thereof and to do all things necessary for, or incidental to, such operation.

2. In carrying out this order the Secretary of Commerce may act through or with the aid of such public or private instrumentalities or persons as he may designate; and all Federal agencies shall cooperate with the Secretary of Commerce to the fullest extent possible in carrying out the purposes of this order.

3. The Secretary of Commerce shall determine and prescribe terms and conditions of employment under which the plants, facilities, and other properties possession of which is taken pursuant to this order shall be operated. The Secretary of Commerce shall recognize the rights of workers to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing and to engage in concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining, adjustment of grievances, or other mutual aid or protection, provided that such activities do not interfere with the operation of such plants, facilities, and other properties.

4. Except so far as the Secretary of Commerce shall otherwise provide from time to time, the managements of the plants, facilities, and other properties possession of which is taken pursuant to this order shall continue their functions, including the collection and disbursement of funds in the usual and ordinary course of business in the names of their respective companies and by means of any instrumentalities used by such companies.

5. Except so far as the Secretary of Commerce may otherwise direct, existing rights and obligations of such companies shall remain in full force and effect, and there may be made, in due course, payments of dividends on stock, and of principal, interest, sinking funds, and all other distributions upon bonds, debentures, and other obligations, and expenditures may be made for other ordinary corporate or business purposes.

6. Whenever in the judgment of the Secretary of Commerce further possession and operation by him of any plant, facility, or other property is no longer necessary or expedient in the interest of national defense, and the Secretary has reason to believe that effective future operation is assured, he shall return the possession and operation of such plant, facility or other property to the company in possession and control thereof at the time possession was taken under this order.

7. The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to prescribe and issue such regulations and orders not inconsistent herewith as he may deem necessary or desirable for carrying out the purposes of this order; and he may delegate and authorize subdelegation of such of his functions under this order as he may deem desirable.

9/11/2001 in Staten Island, New York

September 11th, 2018

I post this essay every year in honor of September 11th, 2001 (see 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017).

Every generation has a defining moment. For my generation, it was 9/11/2001.

Here are my memories of 9/11/2001. It was a Tuesday.

I was a Senior at Staten Island Technical High School, which is about 20 miles from ground zero. We were about 1 week into the school year. I was sitting in Ms. Endriss’s 2nd Period A.P. Political Science class. We were going over some NYC Public School discipline policy, and discussing what kinds of weapons were forbidden in schools (brass knuckles were a no-no). A student walked into the classroom late. He had heard a rumor that a Cessna airplane had hit the World Trade Center. A girl in my class exclaimed that her father worked in the World Trade Center. I could see the look of fear in her eyes, even though none of us had any clue what was going on. She wanted to call her dad. I was the only student in the class with a cell phone, which I promptly gave her. The call did not go through–he worked on one of the upper floors of the tower, and passed away.

We finished second period, apprehensively. I logged onto a computer, and attempted to check the news. I recall one friend told me to check MTV.com for news. At that point, the reports were unclear, and no one knew what was going on. We proceeded to 3rd period A.P. Calculus with Mr. Curry. At that point, someone told us that it was not a Cessna, but in fact a passenger jet. We were all getting nervous, and didn’t quite know what was going on. Later in class, a student came into the class and said a second plane had crashed into the other tower. We also heard that there was an explosion at the Pentagon. At that point, we knew it was not an accident.

I remember leaving the class (something I never did) and walked up to the library where I knew there was a T.V. Just as I arrived in the library, I saw the first tower collapse. I watched it live. I was stunned and could not believe what was happening before my eyes. I grabbed my cellphone to call home, and almost immediately after the tower collapsed, I lost all service. I was not able to call my mom in Staten Island, though I could call my dad who was working in Long Island. Long distance calls seemed to work, but local calls were not working. I remember my dad told me that this was a life-changing event, and he had no idea what would happen. I heard some rumors on TV that there were 15 planes that were hijacked, and unaccounted for in the skies.

By lunch time, the school guidance counselor set up a conference room where students could go to talk. I remember seeing student after student who had a family member or friend who worked in the World Trade Center or in Manhattan. A large number of firefighters and police officers reside in Staten Island. Tragically, many of the emergency responders who perished were from Staten Island. What could we even tell those students?

After that, the day become a blur. I remember hearing that the second tower had collapsed, though I did not see it.  I remember watching the entire United States Congress sing God Bless America on the steps of the Capitol. I had never been so afraid in my life. Later that night, I took a bus home. The New York City public buses were still running, and I remember the driver was not collecting fares.  On the bus, people were talking about the imminent war (against whom,  no one knew) and the imminent draft. Some were saying that students were exempt from the draft.

The next morning, September 12, 2001, I woke up and smelled this horrible smell. The air had this pungent odor, that reminded me of burned flesh at a BBQ. I went to school that morning, and attendance was low. In all of my classes, we were talking about war. I asked whether the US would need to use nuclear weapons. My teacher explained that carpet bombing–a phrase I had never heard of–could wreak plenty of damage in Afghanistan. Later that week students began making sandwiches for the relief workers, and collecting goods to donate to the relief effort.

From Staten Island, I could see the smoldering Ground Zero. It was surreal. The skyline looked so very empty. To this day, whenever I look at the Skyline, a sight I had seen thousands of times, I have the most bizarre feeling. Additionally, whenever we saw an airplane fly overhead, we all freaked out. This lasted for months.

For days, weeks, and months after 9/11, people in Staten Island were waiting for their loved ones to come home. Many patients were alive, but were so badly burned that they could not be identified. People prayed that these unnamed patients would soon come home. One woman whose husband was a firefighter waited outside her home every single night for months. She eventually put a candle in her window every night. Later, she put a memorial lamp in her window. He never came home. Others were simply waiting for remains of their loved ones to be returned. Many were never identified.

I ordered a gas mask from eBay, which I kept in my car, fearing a biological weapon attack on New York City. I remember I tried it on once and I almost suffocated. It is actually still in my trunk, 4 cars later [Update: In July of 2012, I finally traded in the Galt Mobile. I now have a 2012 Ford Escape. And I got rid of the gas mask]. I wanted to order some Cipro for an anthrax attack, but I could not locate any.

It is hard to encapsulate what a New Yorker went through on 9/11. Thinking back on that day, when I was just 17 years old, I realized that I had to grow up awfully quick. It was a new world we were living in.

Never forget. Ever.

Prop2 Class 8 – Chain of Title

September 9th, 2018

Today we will discuss the chain of title, and what it takes to constitute notice (either actual or constructive). The lecture notes are here.
Here are a number of links about Title Insurance in Texas, which we will go over in class:

Did any of you notice the typo on the Liberty Bell in the lobby? Idem Sonans.

Philadelphia:

STCL:

ConLaw Class 8 – Federalism Limits on Congressional Power II – Eleventh Amendment

September 9th, 2018

The lecture notes are here.

Chisolm v. Georgia

The Court delivered its decision in Chisolm seritatim, meaning that each of the five Justices wrote a separate opinion.

 

Justice James Iredell

 

Justice John Blair

 

Justice James Wilson

 

Justice James Cushing

 

Chief Justice John Jay

Here are news clippings from the Columbian Centinel, a newspaper in Boston, from March 13, 1973.

City of Boerne v. Flores

Here are photographs of St. Peter the Apostle Church in Boerne, Texas, the subject of City of Boerne v. Flores. I suppose this church makes an exception to the “Though Shalt Not Kill” Commandment for the Religious Freedoms Restoration Act, which met its constitutional demise within the hallowed walls of this house of worship.

These photographs are courtesy of Hanah Volokh.

United States v. Morrison

This is Christy Brzonkala, the plaintiff in what would become United States v. Morrison. I could not find a photograph of Antonio J. Morrison and James Crawford.

brzonkala

brzonkala2

 

Prop2 Class 7 – The Recording Systems

September 5th, 2018

The lecture notes are here.

Here is a photo of a tract index–the books are huge.

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This is what a grantee index would look like (not that the grantee is in the left-most column).

Grantee index - part 1

Here is what a tract index would look like.

Grantee index - part 2

Texas is a notice jurisdiction (see 12.003).

Sec. 12.003.  INSTRUMENT IN GENERAL LAND OFFICE OR ARCHIVES. (a) If written evidence of title to land has been filed according to law in the General Land Office or is in the public archives, a copy of the written evidence may be recorded if:

(1)  the original was properly executed under the law in effect at the time of execution; and

(2)  the copy is certified by the officer having custody of the original and attested with the seal of the General Land Office.

(b)  A court may not admit a title to land that was filed in the General Land Office as evidence of superior title against a location or survey of the same land that was made under a valid land warrant or certificate prior to the filing of the title in the General Land Office unless prior to the location or survey:

(1)  the older title had been recorded with the county clerk of the county in which the land is located; or

(2)  the person who had the location or survey made had actual notice of the older title.

Remember the Old Mother Hubbard Nursery Rhyme?

Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard,
To give the poor dog a bone;
When she came there,
The cupboard was bare,
And so the poor dog had none.

mother-hubbard

This is the Grantor index in Luthi v. Evans.

grantor-grantee-owens-tour