Whatever gadgets you may have. So they dont interfere with our system here. Thank you, now, as you know warehouse tonight is Justice Sonia sotomayor, we are very pleased to have the justice with those tonight. I want to thank her on behalf of the society for giving her time, when we call upon her to participate in events like this. Because its quite important to us, and quite important to you. And we marry much appreciate it. Ill tell you briefly a little bit about the justice. She is a native new yorker, born in the bronx, very unhappy about last nights baseball game i guess, the boston red sox. She did her undergraduate work at princeton, and then to yell last school. Then joined the District Attorney in new york county, as an assistant District Attorney. After several years there in private practice in new york she was a litigator in the International Commercial law. That attracted attention and before long she had become a Federal District judge on the Southern District of new york 11 years after that, she found herself here in the Supreme Court. So she in one other justice in the modern era, Justice Charles whitaker, are the only justices who actually served on all three levels of the federal judiciary. Justice whitaker was appointed by the same president , president eisenhower. Justice sotomayor was appointed by three different president s. George h. W. Bush, from the district court, president clinton to the circuit court, and president obama to the Supreme Court. Somehow she has also found time to write some books. About her life in particular, and i commend them to you as well. But let me just turn the program over to sonia sotomayor, a real privilege for me to introduce her to you this time. applause it was a miserable night, last night. laughs good evening everyone and welcome to the court. I am delighted that so many of you could join us this evening for the first lecture in the Supreme Court historical societies, 2018 leon silverman lecture series. Which this terms, as you heard, will focus on the Supreme Court and world war i. 2018 marks a century since deferrals world war ii ended. A fitting moment for our societies first series to focus on that important chapter in our nations history. This lecture series is named for the Historical Society late chairman, and president , leon silverman who was a tightened of the new york legal world. It was impossible to practice in new york, as i did, without knowing leon. He was everywhere. Among the many important roles he served, he was the president of the legal aid society, and the American College of trial lawyers. He also worked tirelessly on behalf of our circle society. His commitment to bringing leading scholars to the court to share their wisdom is why this wonderful lecture series exists today. For these like years, and for all the Historical Society and its members to. To promote reflection on the history of the court, my colleagues in, i are very grateful. This evening, we will be hearing from professor melvyn you rough ski. He is a professor amorous of history at virginia commonwealth university. In previous lives, he directed bc you notoriously program in Public Policy and administration, and shared its history departments. You should know that history was my major in college. Before that he received his b. A. And ph. D. From columbia university. And ideology from the inner city of. Virginia today, since he semi retired in 2003, im sure his lovely wife will probably take on bridge with using the word retired. He keeps himself nibbled by teaching constitutional history at american university, here in washington, d. C. He is a prolific historian in scholar, he has written on many topics and constitutional history. And as has served for the past 25 years as a chairman of the board of editors of the historical societies journal of Supreme Court history. Over the years he has held many fellowships and grants from the humanities, the American Council of learning societies, the Virginia Foundation for the humanities, and the american historical association, and many others. I want to highlight two of his works. His by all ig published in 2009, one many accolades, including the Jewish Book Council award, as the book of the year. And an Ambassador Award given by the English Speaking union of the United States. And one to Historical Society one of the only seven ever awarded. His latest work is sent to the Supreme Court, its role in the courts history and the constitutional dialog, he just told me a minute, i will have to read it now. I could contain you to name his many accomplishments, but i feel it would give no time for his insights. And i am looking forward to hearing what he has to say about the port and world war i. I hope you will join me in welcoming the professor. Thank you. I know shes triple book tonight, so i really appreciate the time you took. Since i am a historian, let me start i out with what my mentor taught me many years ago. I begin with a story. So here is the first part of the story. All us brand dai was in her washington apartment, on a cold december day in 1917, catching up on boston news with her old friend elizabeth heavens. When the phone rang a little bit after 4 00, she asked who is there to the building operator . The president. When alice, again asked who is calling, the operator said president wilson. Realizing it was no joke, she told a girl to transfer the call to eight or nine, the small apartment upstairs that Justice Brandeis used as a study. Within an hour, Woodrow Wilson arrived at Stone Lake Court and went up to see the justice. While the two secret service men, who accompanied him, waited outside the door. We will get to what they talked about, in a few minutes, but first we have to set the context. The United States, in a war unlike any it has ever fought before. My assignment tonight, is not as it has often been, to look at one particular justice. Although, i will do a little of that. Or discuss one side of cases, and i will do some of that as well. Rather, i have been asked to provide an overview, a context, for the three remaining lectures of the series. The great war, as it is still called in new york, began in august 1914. A war that no one wanted, and that nearly everyone predicted would never happen. There was disagreement about the total number of casualties, but conservatives estimates said that before the fighting ended, over 8 million soldiers and 12 million civilians had died. Germany lost 1. 7 million dead, and over 4 million wounded. The United States did not enter the conflict until april 1917, and the first troops arrived in france the following september. In the 14 months before the armistice in november 1918, 50,000 americans lost their lives. Now the last big war, that the United States had hot before then, was between the states, from 1861 to 1865. And while the conflict raised a number of constitutional issues, such as the legitimacy of the blockade, the emancipation of slaves, and the suspension of haiti is corpus, for the most part Court Decisions played a relatively minor role. Abraham lincoln has been accused primarily by southern sympathizers of ignoring the constitution and acting as a tyrant. Lincoln did neither, but he did stretched a constitution. Before the civil war, the accepted view held that the constitution had created a government of restricted powers, which could act only in those areas specifically ascribe to it. Under john marshall, the Supreme Court had broadly interpreted the reach of these delegated powers. But ivan marshall, often referred to the government as one of limited limited authority. While southerners took and annual review of the federal powers and those in the north, even the latter shed disk and central framework. Its true, then the government in washington had no powers to wage a war against a succession states. In the union would collapse. While the obvious answer, was when you constitution, this was impractical with 11 states in secession. To support lincolns prosecution of the war, northern legal writers develop what they called, the adequacy of the constitution. Ferrari and others argue that this southern emphasis on the negative constraints on the constitution hid the positive commitments for the government to act effectively. To preserve itself to preserve union. As sydney george fisher, another legal writer explained, the president and congress have the power to react to concrete situations. Such as the rebellion, and they also have a discretion to choose the most effective means to do so. Preserving the union constituted a positive requirement of the government. Even if the particular means, had not been specified in constitutional detail. As timothy happen or explained in his recent study of constitutional issues of the civil war, the constitution will either need to be adequate to meet the needs or would have to be abandoned. The latter choice was unthinkable. So lincoln expanded the understanding of constitutional power in a strong reaction to secession. In so doing, he also resolved, excuse me, the antebellum debate over states sovereignty versus National Supremacy by asserting the idea of america as a unitary state. One that was empowered by enacted on the authority of the people in. The famous assertion that the war was fought so, quote, the government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth. While the federal government did grow in size and power during the war years, after the end of reconstruction in 1877, the old theory of limited government returned. Shared by all parts of the country, between 1877 and 1917, the only wars the country faced involved the army of doing the Indian Tribes and why john hay called a splendid little war against spain that left the United States with new positions in both the caribbean in the pacific. Theodore roosevelts use of the bully pulpit, presage what modern president s could do, but although he wouldve liked to lead the nation one more time, that task fi wilson. Wilson had been a former government professor, and had written popular books on this state and national governance. He undecidedly knew the writings of scholars like fisher, but constitutionally he remained an reconstructed jeffersonian, who opposed the government. In the 1912 election, wilson had countered Theodore Roosevelts new nationalism, in which business would be controlled by the government with his new freedom. In which big business would be kept in check by the rules of competition strictly enforced. Wilson desperately tried to keep the United States out of water. But when germany resumed unrestricted attacks by you goes on neutral shipping going through the allies, which included Many American belts, wilson had little choice but to ask congress for a declaration of war on april 2nd, 1917. To put it charitably, the United States was terribly unprepared to go to war. In may of 1916 congress under intense pressure from the white house, past the first measure to put the country in a state of preparedness, should have become necessary to enter the war. At the suggestion of secretary of war, baker, congress authorized the creation of a council of national defense. But although it had an implied mandate of helping to mobilize the private sector for war production, no one really knew what it could or should do. And it had literal authority at its behest. The army and navy initially sought as a sort of shield between them and power politics, but the bill passed by congress envisioned something even bigger. And with a budget of only 10,000 dollars, as far as congress was concerned, the council would play a minor advisory role. In conversation i had a few weeks ago, a friend wondered if there were constitutional issues during the war. I assured her that indeed there were. I promised to talk about some of them tonight. So here it is. Here is a short list of constitutional questions that came up in the war. One, military conscription. Although both both union in the confederacy had resorted to drafts during the civil war, there had not been popular. Especially since a will to do man could pay someone else to pay his place. The constitutionality of the draft in world war i did come before disappearing court, but i am going to say very little about it, because that will be the subject of professor christopher presentation on october 23rd. Secondly, economic regulation. The existence of war led to increased federal regulation of economic activity. A combination of congressional statutes and executive orders led to Government Intervention and regulation over areas as diverse as agriculture, manufacturing, mining, railroads and telegraphs, even rent control. To the most important laws passed by congress, the lever act of 1917, and the olbermann act up 1918, which gave the federal government enormous control over both agricultural as well as industry. And to an extent never before seen in our history. Both these laws, should be noted, form part of the template for franklin d. Roosevelts new deal efforts to fight the great depression. Well talk more about this because some of these issues, did in fact come before the court. Three, labor relations. Years ago, the noted historian richard tough stutter wrote that war is the enemy of reform. During the First World War reform seem to be strengthened rather than weekend. The war labor board, coach aired by former president taft work to reduce Labor Management strife, and in doing so, also forced management to pay workers a decent wage. The war labor policy, headed by felix frank, there said policy for wages, hours, and union recognition. Wilson himself took a keen interest in hourly wages. Social welfare groups paid played a prominent role in entertaining american troops in urban reformers helped build the mini army camps needed to house entering soldiers. Fort, the enfranchisement of women. In an era of reform, it is little warmer wonder that women sought opportunity to win the suffrage. Because suffragette had always been considered primarily a matter of state power, that is so even today, japan despite the 15th a main meant and the 1965 Voting Rights act. Women had become to be interest in state legislation in the civil war. Then well wyoming territory gave the womens suffrage in 1969, and by 1900 only four states allowed women to vote. The movement picked up steam after 1912. When alice poll, a quaker and social, worker returned from an apprenticeship with the militants suffragettes of england. Adopting the technique she had learned in the mother country, she led a march on washington the day before wilsons integration, to promote the new goal of the movement, a constitutional amendment. When unruly opponents broke up their prey, they had the publicity they needed. By 1916, the Republican Party had endorsed a womens suffrage amendment, and 11 states had given women the franchise. Wilson, who had extremely traditional views about women, opposed to giving them the vote. He refused to endure the amendment, assisting that states should control the suffrage. But the president found himself in a rapidly shrinking minority. Under clause leadership, the new womens party regularly picking up the white house, chained themselves to the fence, provoked arrest, and went on well publicized hunger strikes in prison. When the United States entered the war, to save democracy, political wisdom dictated that one could not send americans to fight and die for an ideal overseas, while denying it to half the population at home. Wilson finally capitulated. And went before congress on september 30th, 1919, to recommend the constitutional amendment. Congress had turned down similar proposals ever since reconstruction. And while the house costed easily, the senate rejected their proposal once in 1918, and twice in 1919. With wilsons backing however, Congress Finally approved the 19th amendment on june 4th, of 1919. And tennessee became the 36 state to ratify. In time for women to vote in that years president ial election. Five, the prohibition of alcohol. Prohibition has such a bad name in our history. The great experiment that ultimately failed, all capone, etc. That we often forget it constituted one of the most important of the progress of air reforms. Believer act, under the mandate of preserving scares food resources, authorized the president to limit or forbid the use of food stamps to make alcoholic beverages. On this issue, we will have extensive participation by the course. Sixth, personal liberties. Here of course we have to dealu with the emergence of modern notions of freeze peach of press. And that topic will be covered by a professor in the last of the series, on december six. So if i to say now, that during the war Congress Administration past the most restrictive laws on freedom of speech since the alien intonation act at the end of the 18th century. Seven, the league of nations. Too often the fight over american entry into the league is portrayed as a spit bona fide between two recalcitrance, wilson and senator henry cabinet large, of massachusetts. That scenario is only partially correct. The constitution gives to the american presid