LAW AND JUSTICE: IMPORTANT EVENTS OF THE 1970s

1970

19 Jan.

President Richard Nixon nominates G. Harrold Carsweli for Supreme Court justice. On 8 April the Senate cites Carswell's weak on civil rights record in rejecting the nomination.

18 Feb.

The trial of the Chicago Seven ends with an acquittal of all seven defendants on charges that they conspired to cause a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Five defendants are eventually convicted of individually crossing state lines with intent to cause a riot. In 1972 these convictions are overturned because of prejudicial conduct by the trial judge.

23 Mar.

The Supreme Court decides that people receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children are entitled to a hearing before their benefits are cut off.

12 May

The Senate unanimously approves the nomination of Harry A. Blackmun for the Supreme Court.

15 May

The Supreme Court decides by a five to three vote that men who object to military service for moral reasons are entitled to draft exemptions as conscientious objectors.

7 Aug.

Armed black revolutionary Jonathan Jackson frees convicts James McClain and William Christmas from McClain's trial for stabbing a prison guard. The three take five hostages—the trial judge, the prosecutor, and three women jurors. When they are stopped at a roadblock, they shoot the judge and then are killed by police gunfire. Black activist and UCLA philosophy professor Angela Davis is charged with providing Jackson with the weapons, but she is acquitted.

15 Oct.

President Nixon signs the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970. The act gives police and prosecutors several new powers. The most controversial of those powers are the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) provisions, which enable prosecutors to confiscate organized crime money invested in legitimate businesses.

31 Dec.

President Nixon signs the Clean Air Act, setting a six-year deadline for the auto-mobile industry to make a pollution-free vehicle and setting air quality standards for ten major pollutants.

1971

30 Jan.

Gov. Ronald Reagan of California, who has long objected to the work of California Rural Legal Assistance, tries to block the program by vetoing its funding. The debate leads to a reconsideration of how legal aid attorneys are financed and organized.

24 Feb.

The Supreme Court holds five to four that the statement of a defendant can be used in court to contradict his testimony, even if the defendant had not been read his rights beforehand.

8 Mar.

The Supreme Court decides that if a hiring practice discriminates against minorities or white women the business must show that the practice is necessary for the business.

29 Mar.

A military court finds Lt. William Calley guilty of the murder of at least twenty-two civilians and sentences him to life imprisonment at hard labor for his role in the My Lai massacre. Calley's platoon killed over one hundred women, children, and old men in My Lai even though there were no enemy soldiers present.

24 May

Trial judge Harold Mulvey declares a mistrial in the murder trial of two members of the Black Panther party, a radical black nationalist group. Bobby Seale and Erika Huggins are charged with ordering the torture and murder of a suspected informer, but the jury declares itself hopelessly deadlocked. On 25 May Mulvey dismisses all charges against Seale and Huggins because the massive pre-trial publicity makes it impossible for them to receive a fair trial.

13 June

The New York Times begins to publish the Pentagon Papers, excerpts from a Department of Defense study of U.S. policy regarding Vietnam.

21 June

The Supreme Court decides by a six-to-three vote that juveniles do not have a constitutional right to a jury trial.

30 June

The Supreme Court decides that the government cannot prohibit publication of the Pentagon Papers by The New York Times.

1 July

The Office of Economic Opportunity makes public a report on California Rural Legal Assistance. The report says that Governor Reagan's charges against the legal services group are "unfounded" and "irresponsible."

21 Aug.

George Jackson, an inmate at San Quentin prison, is killed along with two other inmates and three prison guards in an apparent escape attempt. Jackson, a black activist, is one of the "Soledad Brothers" accused of killing a prison guard at Soledad prison. Jackson's family and attorneys accuse prison officials of murdering Jackson.

9 Sept.

Prisoners riot in the Attica prison in New York State. After four days Gov. Nelson Rockefeller orders the state police to retake the prison by force. Police gun-fire kills ten hostages and twenty-nine inmates in the attack.

17 Sept.

Justice Hugo Black retires from the Supreme Court.

23 Sept.

Justice John Marshall Harlan retires from the Supreme Court.

6 Dec.

Lewis Powell is confirmed by the Senate in his appointment to the Supreme Court.

10 Dec.

William Rehnquist is confirmed in his appointment to the Supreme Court.

1972

• Oregon becomes the first state to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

22 Mar.

The Senate passes the Equal Rights Amendment by a vote of eighty-four to eight, sending it to the states to consider.

12 June

The Supreme Court holds that a defendant is entitled to an attorney whenever a jail sentence is a possible penalty for the crime of which the defendant is accused.

17 June

Police arrest five men for breaking into the Democratic National Committee's headquarters at the Watergate Hotel. Three of the men have ties to President Nixon's reelection campaign.

29 June

The Supreme Court in Furman v. Georgia holds the death penalty unconstitutional unless administered equally and in specific circumstances that the state must list ahead of time.

2 Nov.

The Commission on Inquiry into the Black Panthers and Law Enforcement in Illinois issues a report condemning the Illinois state attorney's handling of a 1969 Chicago raid of the Black Panthers, calling the use of guns unnecessary.

1973

20 Jan.

The Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton holds by a vote of six to three that women's interest in privacy means that states cannot prohibit abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy.

1 Feb.

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals tells the Environmental Protection Agency that it cannot give seventeen states a two-year extension to comply with the 1970 Clean Air Act.

21 June

The Supreme Court decides that a roving border patrol cannot conduct searches of cars without a warrant or probable cause.

21 June

The Supreme Court hands down new standards for judging obscenity cases. States may prohibit sexual material only if the materials are patently offensive to community standards and do not have "serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value."

20 Oct.

Acting Attorney General Robert H. Bork fires the Watergate special prosecutor, Archibald Cox. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckehshaus resign rather than fire Cox.

1974

• Rubin ("Hurricane") Carter publishes his autobiography, The Sixteenth Round: From Number One Contender to Number 45472.

5 Feb.

Patricia Hearst is kidnapped from her Berkeley, California, home by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). In April she joins the SLA in their robbery of the Hibernia Bank in San Francisco.

24 July

The Supreme Court unanimously rules that President Nixon must turn over tapes requested by the special prosecutor. The Court holds that President Nixon does not have unlimited "executive privilege" as he claims.

9 Aug.

President Nixon resigns, and Vice-president Gerald R. Ford becomes president.

8 Sept.

President Ford pardons former president Nixon.

13 Nov.

Karen Silkwood, who claimed to have evidence about serious lapses in quality control at the Kerr/McGee nuclear fuel plant, is killed in a car accident on her way to a meeting with a New York Times reporter. No evidence is found.

1975

• Bob Dylan releases his song "Hurricane," proclaiming the innocence of Rubin ("Hurricane") Carter.

22 Jan.

The Supreme Court decides that before suspending students from school, officials must grant students informal hearings.

26 June

A standoff between federal government officials and the American Indian Movement (AIM) at the Pine Ridge Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota erupts into a shoot-out. One AIM member and two FBI agents are killed.

20 Oct.

The Supreme Court holds that school administrators may hit students to punish them, even if parents object.

12 Nov.

Justice William O. Douglas retires from the Supreme Court after serving a record-setting thirty-six-year term.

18 Nov.

Eldridge Cleaver, onetime minister of information for the Black Panther party, returns to the United States and is immediately arrested by the FBI. Cleaver fled the country in 1968 to avoid trial on attempted murder charges, stemming from a shoot-out between Oakland police and the Black Panthers. Cleaver is never tried. In December 1979 he pleads guilty to a charge of assault and is sentenced to community service and probation.

17 Dec.

The Senate unanimously confirms the appointment of John Paul Stevens to the Supreme Court.

1976

20 Mar.

Patricia Hearst is convicted of bank robbery for her participation in the robbery of the Hibernia Bank with the Symbionese Liberation Army. She serves two years in prison before President Jimmy Carter commutes her sentence.

2 July

The Supreme Court, overturning Furman v. Georgia, holds in Gregg v. Georgia that the death penalty does not violate the Eighth or Fourteenth amendments.

15 July

Frank Edward Ray, a school-bus driver, and the children on his school bus are kidnapped and held underground in Chowchilla, California, for sixteen hours.

7 Dec.

The Supreme Court rules by a vote of six to three in Gilbert v. Generai Electric that it is not sex discrimination for companies to provide disability insurance that covers some men-only disabilities but not pregnancy.

22 Dec.

Rubin ("Hurricane") Carter is again convicted in a retrial on a murder charge. In 1985 the verdict of this trial is overturned because the reviewing judge finds that the prosecution case was based on racism.

31 Dec.

The California Supreme Court decides that when people who are living together separate, a partner could be entitled to payment like alimony—"palimony."

1977

17 Jan.

Gary Gilmore, convicted of murder in Utah, is the first person in ten years to be executed under the death penalty.

18 Apr.

Leonard Peltier, an AIM activist, is convicted of the murder of two FBI agents at the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation in June 1975.

19 Apr.

The Supreme Court decides by a five-to-four vote that corporal punishment of students is not "cruel and unusual punishment" and is therefore not prohibited by the Eighth Amendment.

20 June

The Supreme Court upholds by a vote of six to three the authority of the states to refuse to pay for poor women's abortions unless a physician says that it is medically necessary.

29 June

The Supreme Court by a vote of six to three overturns a school desegregation order for the city of Omaha, saying that the lower courts have to look more closely at the effect of segregation on schoolchildren.

21 Sept.

Bert Lance resigns as the director of the Office of Management and Budget with "regret and sorrow" after accusations of financial misdealings.

3 Dec.

The FBI issues a report calling wife battering the country's least reported crime. The women's movement calls for more public attention and more police effort in response to this crime.

1978

10 Apr.

A federal grand jury indicts former FBI acting director L. Patrick Gray and two former high-ranking FBI officials, Edward Miller and Mark Felt. Unable to obtain search warrants, the FBI officials ordered FBI agents to break into the homes of friends and relatives of fugitive members of the radical Weatherman group in 1972 and 1973.

24 Apr.

The Supreme Court lets stand the lower court's conviction of Patricia Hearst for armed robbery.

31 May

The Supreme Court decides that newspapers can be searched and their reporting and photographs used in the investigation of a crime.

3 July

The Supreme Court decides that universities may take race into account in admissions to try to diversify the student body but may not have strict numerical quotas.

26 Oct.

President Carter signs an ethics-in-government law provoked largely by Watergate; it provides for the appointment of special prosecutors.

27 Nov.

Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk of San Francisco are murdered by Dan White in part for their support of rights for gay men.

1979

5 Mar.

The Supreme Court rules six to three that it is unconstitutional sex discrimination for state laws to require divorcing husbands to pay alimony.

21 May

Dan White, a former city supervisor, is convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the killing of George Moscone and Harvey Milk in San Francisco.

23 May

A federal grand jury charges Bert Lance, former director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Carter, with conspiracy to file false statements and mislead government regulatory agencies.

27 June

The Supreme Court okays a voluntary affirmative action plan to increase the proportion of black employees holding skilled positions at an aluminum and chemical plant.

2 July

The Supreme Court rules that a state may require parental consent for a minor's abortion. However, the state must provide the option of having a judge decide if the minor does not want to tell her parents or cannot.

2 July

The Supreme Court holds by a vote of five to four that members of the public have no constitutional right to attend trials. A court can close trials if pretrial publicity would hurt a defendant's chances of a fair trial.

6 Sept.

President Jimmy Carter, citing humane considerations, frees four Puerto Rican nationalists who committed acts of political terrorism in the 1950s. Carter commutes the sentence of Oscar Collazo, who tried to assassinate President Harry S Truman in 1950. He also grants clemency to Lolita Lebron, Irving Flores Rodriguez, and Rafael Cancel-Miranda who shot and wounded five U.S. congressmen in 1954.

26 Nov.

The Supreme Court agrees to hear challenges to the Hyde amendment, addressing whether Medicaid can exclude payment for abortions.

LAW AND JUSTICE: IMPORTANT EVENTS OF THE 1930s

193O

3 Feb.

President Herbert Hoover nominates Charles Evans Hughes, a former associate justice of the United States Supreme Court who had resigned his position to run for the presidency in 1916, to become the new chief justice.

13 Feb.

Following a fierce debate in the Senate, the appointment of Charles Evans Hughes as chief justice is confirmed.

13 Mar.

The trial of Edward Doheny, accused of bribing former Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall to obtain leases for the Elk Hills naval oil reserve, begins in Washington, D.C.

21 Apr.

A conflagration breaks out in the Ohio state penitentiary in Columbus that, while designed to hold a maximum of 1,500 prisoners, holds 4,300 on the day of the fire. Of the prisoners, 318 die when efforts to contain the fire fail.

20 May

Senate approves the nomination of Owen J. Roberts to the United States Supreme Court. Two weeks earlier, by a single vote, it had rejected President Hoover's first choice, Judge John J. Parker.

26 May

The Supreme Court issues a decision holding that the purchase of intoxicating liquor is not a violation of the Volstead Act.

3 July

The Veterans Administration is established by an act of Congress.

9 Sept.

The State Department, citing increased and alarming rates of unemployment throughout the nation, prohibits further immigration of foreign laborers.

1931

19 Jan.

The Wickersham Commission, originally formed to study the problem of enforcing Prohibition, delivers its report recommending that Congress consider more effective means of control.

24 Jan.

The Supreme Court defeats an attempt to declare the process in which the Eighteenth Amendment was adopted invalid by reversing a district court's ruling finding Prohibition unconstitutional.

27 Feb.

Congress overrides President Hoover's veto of the Bonus Loan Bill, permitting veterans to cash up to 50 percent of the value of their bonus certificates.

13 Mar.

The Massachusetts state legislature petitions Congress to initiate proceedings for the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment.

17 Mar.

Mayor James J. "Jimmy" Walker of New York City is charged with malfeasance and neglect of his official duties.

25 Mar.

Nine young black men, later to become known as the "Scottsboro Boys," are arrested in Alabama and charged with raping two white women.

26 July

The Wickersham Commission delivers its final report, recommending major reforms in the federal prison system and greater use of parole.

17 Oct.

Alphonse Capone is sentenced to an unprecedented eleven years in prison for income tax evasion.

1932

• Benjamin N. Cardozo is appointed to the United States Supreme Court.

12 Jan.

Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes resigns from the Supreme Court after almost thirty years of service.

15 Jan.

Congress passes President Hoover's proposal for the establishment of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to spur the economy.

1 Mar.

The twenty-month-old child of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh is kidnapped from his parents' home in New Jersey.

3 Mar.

The Twentieth or "Lame Duck" Amendment is submitted by Congress for ratification by the legislatures of the various states.

7 Mar.

Striking employees of the Ford Motor Company organize a demonstration at the company's Dearborn plant in Michigan. Violence erupts and four people are killed.

14 Mar.

Benjamin N. Cardozo is appointed to the seat on the Supreme Court vacated by the retiring Justice Holmes.

23 Mar.

The Norris-La Guardia Act, prohibiting the use of court injunctions as a means of maintaining antiunion employment contracts or to inhibit peaceful strikes, is passed.

29 May

Large numbers of primarily unemployed veterans begin arriving in the nation's capital to support a bill in Congress that would provide them with the full value of their bonus certificates previously issued in recognition of their service in World War I.

17 June

The Senate rejects the bill that veterans of the "Bonus Army" had demanded to be passed, inducing many of the disappointed veterans to leave the nation's capital.

7 Nov.

The Supreme Court, in Powellv. Alabama, rules that the "Scottsboro Boys" were not properly represented at their trial, setting the foundation for a new trial.

1933

6 Feb.

The Twentieth Amendment is adopted.

15 Feb.

An attempt to assassinate Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami, Florida, fails, but Anton J. Cermak, mayor of Chicago, riding in the president-elect's car, is killed by the bullets fired by a lone gunman, Giuseppe (called Joseph) Zangara.

20 Feb.

Congress votes to submit the Twenty-first Amendment, repealing Prohibition, to the states for ratification.

27 May

The Federal Securities Act, establishing, among other things, requirements for the registration of stocks and bonds, is passed by Congress.

16 June

President Roosevelt signs into law the National Industrial Recovery Act, which established the Public Works Administration and the National Recovery Administration.

5 Aug.

The National Labor Board is created by executive order. Sen. Robert Wagner of New York is appointed its first chairman.

5 Dec.

The Twenty-first Amendment is adopted, bringing an end to Prohibition.

1934

5 May

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, bank robbers believed to be responsible for twelve murders and sought by authorities in three states, are killed by a posse of lawmen outside Rustin, Louisiana.

18 May

The Lindbergh Law, making the death penalty available for offenses involving cross-state kidnappings, is passed by Congress.

6 June

The Securities and Exchange Act, which establishes the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate stock and bond transactions, is signed into law.

19 June

Responding to increased pressure from labor groups, Congress passes a joint resolution favoring the replacement of the National Labor Board with a prolabor National Labor Relations Board.

28 June

Congress passes the Federal Farm Bankruptcy Act (the Frazier-Lemke Act), which places a moratorium on the foreclosure of farm mortgages.

16 July

In support of the striking members of the International Longshoremen's Association of San Francisco, unions in that city call for a "general strike" which, in violation of a court-issued injunction, is widely observed.

22 July

John Dillinger, "Public Enemy No. 1," is shot and killed outside a Chicago movie theater by agents of the FBI and local police.

6 Nov.

Nebraska, by means of an amendment of its state constitution, adopts a unicameral legislature.

27 Nov.

George "Baby Face" Nelson, a bank robber responsible for the deaths of three FBI agents, is mortally wounded in a gun battle with law enforcement officers near Barrington, Illinois.

3 Dec.

The right of land-grant colleges to require military training of students is upheld by the United States Supreme Court in Hamilton v. Regents of the University of California.

1935

16 Jan.

Arizona Clark Barker, also called "Kate" or "Ma," and her son Fred are killed in a gun battle with a small army of police and FBI agents.

29 Jan.

Membership of the United States in the World Court is rejected by the Senate, which refuses to do anything which could be seen as compromising the nation's sovereignty.

19 Mar.

Rumors and accusations of police brutality in the case of a sixteen-year-old black youth caught shoplifting in a department store touch off a riot in Harlem resulting in the deaths of three persons and damages in excess of $200 million.

27 May

The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, cornerstone of the New Deal program, is declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the case of Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States.

5 July

The National Labor Relations Board is created to protect the rights of workingmen to join labor unions, to vote for their own collective bargaining units, and to seek redress from the unfair labor practices of an employer.

29 July

Thomas E. Dewey is appointed as a special prosecutor in New York to lead a drive against crime and corruption, a crusade that quickly brings him national attention.

8 Sept.

Sen. Huey Long of Louisiana is shot during a visit to the state capital and dies two days later.

23 Oct.

Mobster Dutch Schultz, who is rumored to have been planning the murder of "gangbuster" Thomas Dewey, is killed by his fellow gangsters while dining in a Newark, New Jersey, tavern.

1936

6 Jan.

The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 is declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in United States v. Butler.

3 Apr.

Bruno Hauptmann, the convicted kidnapper of Charles Lindbergh Jr., is electrocuted.

5 May

Bank robbers Alvin "Creepy" Karpis and Fred Hunter are arrested in New Or-leans by J. Edgar Hoover and a small force of FBI agents.

30 June

The Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act, requiring firms with government contracts to observe specific minimum-wage rates, an eight-hour day, and a forty-hour week and expressly prohibiting the use of child labor, is passed.

30 Nov.

The Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a ruling allowing a doctor to distribute prophylactic devices.

30 Dec.

The United Auto Workers begin a strike against the General Motors Fisher Body plant in Flint, Michigan, employing a new tactic, the sit-down strike, in disregard of a state court's ruling that they are in violation of the law.

1937

• Associate Justice Willis Van Devanter of the United States Supreme Court retires.

1 Mar.

Congress passes the Supreme Court Retirement Act, permitting justices to retire at the age of seventy with full pay.

26 Mar.

William H. Hastie, the first black federal judge, is sworn in.

29 Mar.

The United States Supreme Court, in a complete reversal of the position it had taken in an earlier case, upholds a Washington State law establishing a minimum wage for women (West Coast Hotel'v. Parrish).

12 Aug.

Sen. Hugo Black of Alabama is nominated by President Roosevelt to replace retiring Supreme Court justice Van Devanter and wins Senate confirmation the following week.

26 Aug.

Accepting the defeat of his original proposal to increase the number of justices in the Supreme Court, President Roosevelt signs into law a compromise bill that principally affects lower federal courts.

1938

• Supreme Court Associate Justice George Sutherland retires, Associate Justice Benjamin Cardozo dies, and Stanley F. Reed is nominated and confirmed as an associate justice.

10 Jan.

The Ludlow proposal is defeated by a majority in the House of Representatives who vote to return the resolution to the Judiciary Committee. The measure called for amending the Constitution to provide that, except in cases of invasion, the nation could engage in war only when a majority of the people so voted in a national referendum.

12 Apr.

New York becomes the first state to pass a law requiring a medical test as a pre-requisite to the issuance of a marriage license.

26 May

The House of Representatives establishes a committee to investigate the potentially "un-American" activities of suspect groups such as communists, fascists, Nazis, and others. Representative Martin Dies of Texas is selected to be the committee's first chairman.

25 June

President Roosevelt signs the Fair Labor Standards Act into law, establishing a minimum wage of forty cents an hour and a maximum workweek of forty hours for businesses engaged in interstate commerce.

7 Oct.

Comedians George Burns and Jack Benny are arrested and charged in New York City with smuggling gems into the country.

1939

• Justice Pierce Butler dies. The appointments of Felix Frankfurter and William O. Douglas as associate justices are confirmed.

7 Jan.

Tom Mooney, widely believed to have been wrongly convicted of the 1916 Preparedness Day bombing in San Francisco, is given a full pardon and released from prison.

13 Feb.

Justice Louis Brandeis retires from the Supreme Court at the age of eighty-two.

18 Feb.

The University of Wisconsin refuses to accept a donation that, by the stipulation of the donor, can only be used to benefit white students.

27 Feb.

In its decision in the case of NLRB v. Fansteel Metallurgical Corp., the United States Supreme Court rules that sit-down strikes are in violation of the Constitution.

2 Mar.

A young man and woman, found together in a lover's lane outside of Atlanta, Georgia, are whipped to death for violating the "Moral Kode" of the Ku Klux Klan.

3 Apr.

The Administrative Reorganization Act is signed into law despite expression of deep misgivings in Congress that passage of the act would provide the president with dictatorial powers. The bill consolidated and coordinated many federal agencies including a number created during the New Deal.

2 Aug.

The Hatch Act, which limits the political activity of federal government employees and officeholders, is enacted and becomes law.