Initially, the Supreme Court chambers were in the Merchants Exchange Building in New York.
Source: Supreme Court
Year: 2009
June 9, 2009
Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas had the longest tenure on the court, serving for a little more than 36 years. He retired in 1975, at the age of 77.
Source: Supreme Court Historical Society
June 8, 2009
Construction began on the Supreme Court building when Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes laid the cornerstone on October 13, 1932.
Source: Supreme Court
Privately Owned Gun Tax?
Q: Would Senate bill 2099 put a yearly $50 tax on each privately owned firearm?
A: There is no such bill. A chain e-mail containing bogus claims refers to a bill that died more than eight years ago.
June 7, 2009
The term of the Supreme Court begins on the first Monday of October and lasts until the first Monday of the following October.
Source: Supreme Court
‘Dealergate’: Mistaking Anecdotes for Data
Ever since Chrysler announced that it wanted to shed 789 of its 3,188 nationwide dealerships, speculation and outright accusations have circulated to the effect that Republican donors were being singled out. The list of dealers slated for closing contained some who had given to Republican candidates, and far fewer who had given to Democrats. One blogger’s early tabulation, based on the first five pages of the 40-page list of closed dealers, showed $120,000 had been given to GOP candidates and $34,350 to Democratic candidates in 2004 and 2008 (exclusive of presidential candidates).
June 6, 2009
John Jay was the first chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from 1789 until 1795. He retired from the court in order to become the governor of New York.
Source: Columbia University
Obama and Islamic History
President Obama ticked off some accomplishments of the Islamic world during his speech in Cairo on June 4. Namely, he said:
Obama: It was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation; our mastery of pens and printing; our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed.
Was he right? Well, he was more careful in his language than when he claimed this winter that the U.S.
Guns A-Blazin’
We’ve updated our Ask FactCheck item on Sonia Sotomayor and gun rights yet again. This time it’s to reflect the fact that the National Rifle Association has filed a cert petition asking the Supreme Court to hear its case challenging Chicago’s gun laws (which it lost this week in the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals). The NRA asks the court specifically to decide the question of whether or not the Second Amendment applies to state and local governments.
More “Birther” Nonsense: Obama’s 1981 Pakistan Trip
We continue to receive queries about claims and theories advanced by "birthers," who wish to believe that Barack Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the USA or that he somehow gave up his citizenship and thus is not qualified to hold the office he occupies. One is a claim, first advanced last year, that his trip to Pakistan in 1981 proves he must not have been a U.S. citizen because Americans were not permitted to travel there at the time.