SANDY KOZEL

On this day in 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down state laws that had
been restricting abortions during the first six months of pregnancy. The case
(Roe vs. Wade) legalized abortion. The Court ruled, in a 7-2 decision, that
a woman’s right to choose an abortion was protected by the privacy rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 

This is a 1972 photo of the United States Supreme court who decided on Roe
V. Wade. From left, front row : Associate Justice Potter Stewart; William O. Douglas;Chief Justice Warren Berger, Associate Justice William J. Brennan Jr.
and Byron A. White. Back row: Associate Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr.;Thurgood 
Marshall; Harry A. Blackmun; and William H. Rehnquist. (AP)

Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973)

Lyndon Johnson, often referred to by the initials LBJ, was an American
politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from
1963 to 1969. Formerly the 37th vice president from 1961 to 1963, he
assumed the presidency following the assassination of President John
F. Kennedy.

ROSS SIMPSON

Steven Allan Spielberg is 73  years old today.

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg is considered one of the founding
pioneers of the New Hollywood era and one of the most popular
directors and producers in film history. He started in Hollywood
directing television and several minor theatrical releases,
becoming a household name as the director of Jaws (1975).  

After a bitter confirmation hearing, the U.S. Senate votes 52 to 48 to
confirm Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In July 1991, Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to sit on the
Supreme Court, announced his retirement after 34 years. President
George Bush quickly nominated Clarence Thomas, a 43-year-old African
American judge known for his conservative beliefs, to fill the seat. He  
had been chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
during the Reagan administration, and in 1990 Bush had appointed him
to the U.S. Court of Appeals. As the confirmation hearings for Thomas’
Supreme Court nomination got underway, he evaded controversy over
his conservative views on issues such as abortion by refusing to state
a clear political position. He seemed headed for an easy confirmation
until Anita Hill, a former aide, stepped forward and accused him of
sexual harassment.

   
Anita Hill during the confirmation hearings.    
    

Hill is a university professor of social policy, law, and women’s
studies at Brandeis University and a faculty member of the
university’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management.
    
    

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas turned 71 in June.

Anita Faye Hill became 63 in July.

CAMILLE
BOHANNON

Musician and actor Sting (Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner) is 68 years
old today. He was the principal songwriter, lead singer, and bassist for
the new wave  rock band the Police from 1977 to 1984, and launched a
solo career in 1985. He has included elements of rock, jazz, reggae,
classical, new-age and worldbeat in his music.

First meeting of the United States Supreme Court, Feb. 1790.

The Judiciary Act of 1789 is passed by Congress and signed by President
George Washington, establishing the Supreme Court of the United States
as a tribunal made up of six justices who were to serve on the court until
death or retirement. That day, President Washington nominated John Jay
to preside as chief justice, and John Rutledge, William Cushing, John Blair,
Robert Harrison, and James Wilson to be associate justices. On September
26, all six appointments were confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

John Jay (December 23, 1745 – May 17, 1829)

FIRST Chief Justice of the United States
In office September 26, 1789 – June 29, 1795

   
    
    
    
    
   
The Old Royal Exchange, in New York City, where the first
meeting of the Court was held in February 1790, though
with no cases to hear.