"I . . . withhold my assent" by Michael Ceraolo

From his American Gallery Series by Michael Ceraolo
"I . . . withhold my assent"


I didn't always:
I grew up in the antebellum South
and would have continued to tolerate slavery
if the Union could be maintained,
but my fellow Southerners nixed that


And after the war I was willing
to accept them back in the Union
if they would accept defeat
and change the laws accordingly,
but that was too much for them,
and they successfully redeemed their states
from democracy,
and
the Northerners tired of fighting them;
the freedmen would only have
access to the federal courts
to attempt to preserve their rights


When I was first appointed to the Court
by President Hayes, I tried to build consensus,
but that didn't happen,
so
I became a frequent dissenter,
often the only one
I was largely ignored at the time
and for many years after,
but
I'm proud to say many of my dissents,
though not quite all of them,
pointed the way to overturn
those original bad decisions,
sometimes many decades later
A few of those:


Civil Rights Cases (1883)
"such discrimination practiced
by corporations and individuals
in the exercise of their
public or quasi-public functions
is a badge of servitude
the imposition of which
Congress may prevent under its power,
by appropriate legislation,
to enforce the Thirteenth Amendment:


United States v. E.C. Knight Co. (1895)
"it is conceded
that the object of the combination
was to obtain control of the business
of making and selling refined sugar
throughout the entire country"
"I perceive no difficulty
in the way of the court passing a decree
declaring that that combination imposes
an unlawful restraint upon trade and commerce
among the states"


Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
"arbitrary separation . . .
on the basis of race . . .
is a badge of servitude
wholly inconsistent with . . .
equality before the law"
"The thin disguise of "equal" accommodations
for passengers in railroad coaches will not mislead anyone,
nor atone for the wrong this day done"


Lochner v. New York (1905)
"I take it to be firmly established
that what is called the liberty of contract
may, within certain limits,
be subjected to regulations
designed and calculated
to promote the general welfare
or to guard the public health,
the public morals or the public safety"
"We cannot say that the State has acted
without reason nor ought we to proceed upon
the theory that its action is a mere sham"


and
one that is yet to eventuate
(though it should,
the Constitution doesn't always follow the flag):


Downes v. Bidwell (1901)
"A mistake in the acquisition of territory . . .
cannot be made the ground for violating the Constitution
or refusing to give full effect to its provisions."