While technically there is no legal issue with respect to having a leap year birthday, people born on February 29th (often called “leapers”) may face some problems, particularly with regard to medical or government records. Some computer systems do not accept February 29th as a valid date, or alternatively do not take into account leap years and print invalid expiration dates (such as February 29, 2015, which did not exist) on their driver’s licenses, insurance policies, and other documents. Because of the potential social issues related to having a birthday that is only officially recognized every four years, instances have been recorded of physicians altering birth certificates so that the birth date would not fall on February 29th — a practice that is illegal.
While the Constitution contains no explicit reference to privacy, the Supreme Court has held it is found within the “penumbra” of the Bill of Rights as an implied right. Specifically, the Court had pointed to the 1st Amendment (privacy of beliefs), 3rd Amendment (privacy of households from demands of quartering troops), 4th Amendment (privacy of persons and possessions from unreasonable searches and seizures), 5th Amendment (protection of personal information through the right against self-incrimination), 9th Amendment (protecting other rights than those specifically enumerated), and 14th Amendment (liberty clause).
The practice of holding a “ladies’ night’‘ as a promotional event at bars and nightclubs has been often challenged on state and federal grounds. While challenges under the Equal Protection Clause and the Civil Rights Act of 1871 have failed, four state courts have found they constitute unlawful gender discrimination under state or local law: California, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
For more than a century New York state required that juries be sequestered during the deliberation phase of all trials for violent felonies. This extremely unpopular law was repealed in 2001. Missouri still makes jury sequestration mandatory in trials involving a charge of first degree murder where the state seeks the death penalty.
Related to the spousal privilege, attorney-client privilege, and priest-penitent privilege, the reporter’s privilege (also known as a ‘press shield law’) is provided for in 48 states and the District of Columbia, either statutorily or through judicial decisions. Federal courts have also upheld a press shield law in the absence of a federal statute. The press shield law provide various degrees of protection to reporters to wish to keep the identity of their sources confidential.
President Thomas Jefferson signed an Act of Congress approving Ohio’s statehood in 1803, making it the 17th state. Congress had never passed a resolution formally admitting it as a state, however. While this has no real constitutional significance, this oversight was discovered in 1953, prompting a congressional joint resolution officially declaring that Ohio had been admitted into the Union one hundred and fifty years earlier. This joint resolution was signed into law by President Dwight Eisenhower.
William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States (1909-1913), remains the only president to also serve on the Supreme Court. He served as the tenth Chief Justice, from 1921-1930.
The only crime defined in the Constitution is ‘treason‘, which is found in Article III s. 3. A response to the misuse of this crime by the British Crown, it was limited to waging war against the U.S. or giving “Aid and Comfort” to the enemy. Conviction requires the testimony of two witnesses, or the defendant’s confession.
It was originally proposed that the President be chosen by popular vote, but the delegates to the Constitutional Convention agreed (after 60 ballots!) on a system known as the Electoral College. The procedure for election of the President and Vice President was modified by the 12th Amendment in 1804. The closest that Congress has come to abolishing the Electoral College was before the 91st Congress (1969-1971) where the attempt failed to gain the required 2/3rds vote in the Senate. Currently, the electoral votes range from 3 for the least populous states and the District of Columbia, to 55 for California.
The Law Library of Congress is the world’s largest law library, with nearly 3 million books, including one of the world’s foremost rare law book collections and the most complete collection of foreign legal periodicals in the United States.
The longest period in U.S. history during which there were no amendments to the Constitution was the 61 year gap between the ratification of the 12th Amendment modifying the Electoral College (in 1804), and the ratification of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery (in 1865).
While Mondays might be the most unpopular, statistics over the past decade show that homicides are much more likely to occur on Thursdays than any other day of the week; Tuesdays are the “safest” with the lowest rate of homicides.