VOLUME XXXVII NUMBER 3, 2015 Society Annual Meeting Held June 1, 2015 By Gabielle Mills* This year the Annual Meeting, always a highlight of the a full-time practicing barrister. Five years later she became Society’s calendar, marked the 40th anniversary of the event. the second woman to be promoted to the Court of Appeals, It was held on June 1, 2015 in the Supreme Court Building before becoming the fi rst woman Law Lord in 2004. Lady in Washington, DC. Hale was named Deputy President of the Supreme Court in The meeting opened with the Annual Lecture delivered June 2013. by the Right Honourable, Lady Hale described the Baroness Hale of Magna Carta’s genesis. Richmond, Deputy Pre- Initially a peace treaty sident of the Supreme Court between King John and a of the United Kingdom. group of rebellious barons, Lady Hale’s presentation Magna Carta promised to focused on Magna Carta. all “free men” the right to Photos by Steve Petteway Steve by Photos The 800th Anniversary of justice and a fair trial, and Magna Carta fell exactly stated that no taxes could two weeks after the address be demanded without the was given. This charter, “general consent of the agreed to by King John of realm.” At the time, the terms England on June 15, 1215, of Magna Carta applied to embodies much of the a very small portion of the shared legal heritage of the population, notably to the United Kingdom and the barons, knights and bishops. United States. The original version was Gregory Joseph, Pres- Baroness Hale (left) was photographed with Justice Ginsburg annulled but edited forms ident of the Society, prov- after presenting the Annual Lecture on the infl uence of Magna appeared subsequently. It ided a brief introduction Carta on the American legal system. was the 1225 version of highlighting some of the Magna Carta that ultimately accomplishments of Lady became part of English Hale’s career. Lady Hale graduated with honors with a law statute law in 1297. degree from Cambridge University in 1966. She went on to Notwithstanding the changes to the original charter, the teach law at Manchester University from 1966 to 1984, while ideas enshrined within the original version persisted in simultaneously qualifying as a barrister and practicing law English common law. Lady Hale demonstrated that three part-time. In 1984, Lady Hale became the fi rst woman to be essential ideas of modern constitutionalism can be found in appointed to the Law Commission, a statutory body which the original Magna Carta: “The idea that fundamental rights promotes legal reform in the United Kingdom. In 1994, can only be taken away or interfered with by due process Lady Hale became the fi rst High Court Judge to have made and in accordance with the law; the idea that government her career as an academic and public servant rather than as Continued on Page 3 A Letter from the President the history of the Supreme Court of the United States and the On November 20, 2015 the federal judiciary. Society was honored to present a At the Gala, Society Vice President Dorothy Tapper program at New York University Goldman will display an original printing of The Stone at which Chief Justice John Engraving of the Declaration of Independence. This image of G. Roberts, Jr., the Honorary the Declaration is probably the most familiar to Americans, Chairman of the Society’s Board having been reproduced countless times in the form of of Trustees, was the principal posters and as illustrations in text books. It was originally speaker. The Chief Justice created by William J. Stone, who was commissioned by the lectured about his predecessor, U.S. government (Secretary of State John Quincy Adams) Chief Justice Charles Evans to produce a facsimile of the Declaration text and signatures Hughes, in our continuing series for the 50th Anniversary of the nation. The copperplate was Nominated from New York, which completed in June 1823 and 200 engravings were printed. The we co-sponsor each year with the Historical Society of the distribution of those copies was specifi ed by a congressional New York Courts. Following his presentation, Chief Justice resolution which ordered them to be distributed to offi cial Roberts was interviewed by Chief Judge Robert A. Katzmann repositories, signifi cant offi ceholders and to the surviving of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. We are very signers of the Declaration, who included Thomas Jefferson grateful to the Chief Justice for his willingness to present this and John Adams. The Stone Engraving on display will be a lecture — and to travel to do so — as his offi cial duties leave rare 1833 printing from the 1823 plates. Also on display will precious little time for other events. We are also grateful to be an early edition of the Declaration of Independence with Chief Judge Katzmann, the author most recently of Judging Embossed Lettering for the Blind. Statutes, whose many duties and responsibilities are also too Without the support of our members and public-minded exhausting to catalog. foundations and organizations, we would be unable to The 2015 Leon Silverman Lectures Series just concluded, carry on this work. As your situation allows, I hope you and I am pleased to report that C-SPAN recorded each will consider supporting or attending the Gala or making a of the four programs in the series this year. The common contribution to the Annual Fund. All proceeds from these subject was the Supreme Court and Reconstruction, and sources are critical to ensure the continuation of the Society’s the lectures focused on landmark decisions including The work. Together we can take great pride in the continuing Slaughterhouse Cases. Articles derived from the lectures will excellence of the programs and publications produced by appear in a future issue of The Journal of Supreme Court the Society. Thank you for playing a major role in this effort. History, giving researchers and armchair scholars access to the information in written form in perpetuity. The Society’s website provides a direct link by which you may access the video recordings of the Silverman lectures, and I encourage you to watch them when you have an opportunity. A great deal of material has been added to the website recently and new content is added as it becomes available. The site is a very rich source for research on the Court and its history. We have scheduled the third New York Gala for Wednesday February 24, 2016, as detailed on the back page of this issue. The Plaza Hotel will again be the setting for the event. This year the two former Supreme Court law clerks we will honor are our Trustee David Leitch of Bank of America (who formerly chaired the Society’s Development Committee) and Gregory K. Palm of Goldman Sachs. Both honorees exemplify the highest standards of the legal profession and Quarterly are very fi tting recipients of the Society’s Amicus Curiae Published four times yearly in Spring, Summer, Fall, Award. The Gala will again provide attendees an enjoyable and Winter by the Supreme Court Historical Society, and unique opportunity to honor important leaders in 224 E. Capitol Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20003. Tel. (202) 543–0400, www.supremecourthistory.org. the legal profession, and it will raise essential funding Distributed to members of the Society, law libraries, needed to underwrite the cost of producing the Society’s interested individuals, and professional associations. publications, programs, and acquisitions for the Court. All Managing Editor Kathleen Shurtleff of these endeavors enable the Society to fulfi ll its mission to Advisory Editor James B. O’Hara preserve, promote scholarship, and educate the public about Advisory Editor Frank D. Wagner 2 “Annual Meeting” Continued from page 1 Kevin J. McMahon. An original interview with Professor rests upon the consent of the governed, and the idea that McMahon about his award-winning book, Nixon’s Court: government, as well as the governed is bound by law.” His Challenge to Judicial Liberalism and Its Political Lady Hale traced the infl uence of Magna Carta to America. Consequences (2011) is available on the Society’s website. When English settlers colonized the New World in the Other events include the fi rst two of the four lectures in seventeenth century, they brought the precedents of Magna the 2015 Leon Silverman lecture series which were given Carta with them. The concepts embodied in those provisions in March and May on the overall topic, “The Supreme of the charter were cited by many colonists as justifi cation Court and Reconstruction.” Members can view the lectures for the American Revolution. In particular, the charter through the Society’s website, www.supremecourthistory. expressly forbade the imposition of taxes without consent, org by linking to the C-Span site through the Video Page of a right that the English government violated in 1775 with the Society’s site. the introduction of the Stamp Act. Both the Constitution of Two sessions of the Summer Institute for Teachers the United States (1789) and the Bill of Rights (1791) echo were scheduled for late June 2015. These sessions bring elements of Magna sixty teachers from Carta, most notably around the country in the underlying to Washington D.C., principle that to study the Court government req- fi rst-hand and learn uires the consent from practitioners of the governed. and others with Lady Hale noted specialized expertise. that Magna Carta Chair of the Pub- continues to lications Committee, be cited by the Don Ayer overse- Supreme Court of es the publications the United States in which include the modern cases.