# Do you know the basics of these Supreme Court cases? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 2, 2008, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-basics-of-these-supreme-court-cases/466173 "2008-10-02T14:39:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-basics-of-these-supreme-court-cases/466173/41 "2008-10-04T02:32:08Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > One I enjoy, both because it set a significant precedent and because it has one of the best names ever, is _United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries_. Not a SCOTUS case, though. Oh, do tell! For myself, I know all of them, except all I can ever remember of Gideon v. Wainwright is protecting defendants’ rights. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-basics-of-these-supreme-court-cases/466173/42 "2008-10-04T15:25:56Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > One I enjoy, both because it set a significant precedent and because it has one of the best names ever, is _United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries_. Not a SCOTUS case, though. **Matt** , do you have the legal citation for that so we can look it up? I’m intrigued–just what could one package of Japanese pessaries have done to bother the United States? (And it must be said: “One Package of Japanese Pessaries” would make a great band name. :D) ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-basics-of-these-supreme-court-cases/466173/43 "2008-10-04T16:04:54Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Wait, inanimate objects can be named as petitioners or respondents in court cases? > > ETA: are those the right generals terms? If not, please just pretend they are. Yes, they can. In civil forfeiture cases, for example, the goverment proceeds against the property being forfeited. It’s a legal fiction, in a sense, because obviously the owner of the property will respond, but it’s not at all uncommon to see cases like “United States vs. One 2006 Sky-blue Toyota.” ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-basics-of-these-supreme-court-cases/466173/44 "2008-10-04T16:29:17Z")
They have a great little exhibit on Gideon v. Wainwright at the Supreme Court building, that includes his handwritten request for cert and a letter back that says he didn’t follow any of the rules and that they were assigning him a lawyer (Abe Fortas). ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-basics-of-these-supreme-court-cases/466173/45 "2008-10-04T19:24:55Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > **Matt** , do you have the legal citation for that so we can look it up? I’m intrigued–just what could one package of Japanese pessaries have done to bother the United States? > > (And it must be said: “One Package of Japanese Pessaries” would make a great band name. :D) Wouldn’t it though? The answer to your question is, ‘Get imported’ – I guess that’s why they are specified as Japanese pessaries. [Good ol’ Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._One_Package_of_Japanese_Pessaries) comes through. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-basics-of-these-supreme-court-cases/466173/46 "2008-10-04T21:09:25Z")
See, I figured a pessary was a fish. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-basics-of-these-supreme-court-cases/466173/47 "2008-10-05T13:03:15Z")
I always want to suggest to people who rant and rave against “activist” judges that we’ve had them ever since John Marshall said “We’ll, I’m the Chief Justice and I think the SCOTUS gets to decide what the Constitution means.” It is hardly a new phenomenon, but to hear Scalia, et al judicial review was something cut from whole cloth within the past 50 years or so. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-basics-of-these-supreme-court-cases/466173/48 "2008-10-05T13:57:19Z")
> [@susan](#): > > I haven’t quite finished it (it’s dense), but Irons’s _A People’s History of the Supreme Court_ is fascinating, if also depressing (I thought better of SCoTUS before reading). How come? what did you find out that changed your opinion? just curious. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-basics-of-these-supreme-court-cases/466173/49 "2008-10-05T16:33:11Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Wouldn’t it though? The answer to your question is, ‘Get imported’ – I guess that’s why they are specified as Japanese pessaries. [Good ol’ Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._One_Package_of_Japanese_Pessaries) comes through. Ah, thanks. Interesting case–never thought it would be about that! The Wiki link included the legal citation too, so I just may look at the original decision too. Again, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-basics-of-these-supreme-court-cases/466173/50 "2008-10-05T20:37:01Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Yes, they can. > > In civil forfeiture cases, for example, the goverment proceeds against the property being forfeited. It’s a legal fiction, in a sense, because obviously the owner of the property will respond, but it’s not at all uncommon to see cases like “United States vs. One 2006 Sky-blue Toyota.” Or my personal favorite, _2174 Obscene Devices v. State of Texas_, 33 S.W.3d 904 (Tex.App.–Houston [14th Dist.] 2000, no pet.) ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-basics-of-these-supreme-court-cases/466173/51 "2008-10-07T01:13:33Z")
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