The Moving Image and Sound Branch of the National Archives doesn’t just hold motion pictures. It’s also home to over 300,000 sound recordings. Recently, the Motion Picture Branch made digitized sound recordings of the Supreme Court available in the Catalog.
The Supreme Court began recording its proceedings in 1955, but the court’s opinions were not recorded until the 1980’s. The recordings are organized chronologically. Since cases are often argued over multiple days, cases can be split up between different recordings.
An interesting example is Time, Inc. v. Hill in 1966. The Hill family, who had been victims of a sensational crime where escaped convicts broke into the family home, sued Life Magazine for an article about a play which fictionalized the family’s experience. At the Supreme Court in 1966, their case was argued by former vice-president and future president Richard Nixon. You can hear Nixon argue at about 51:30 in this recording.
President Nixon looks on as the newly appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court, Warren Burger, says a few remarks, National Archives Identifier 194632
The Hill case references the famous case of New York Times v. Sullivan, which ruled that in order to prove libel, a public official must show that what was said against them was made with actual malice.
Other important cases you can find include:
Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015 required states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The recordings are divided into three parts: question one, question two, and the opinion.
Engel v. Vitale in 1962 decided that school-initiated prayer in public schools violated the First Amendment.
Gideon v. Wainwright from 1963 declared that indigent defendants must be provided legal representation without charge.
Perhaps the best known Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade was argued over two dates: December 1971 and October 1972. The court declared abortion to be a constitutional right.
Richard Hubble joined the Revolution at 16 along with his twin brother. Their father had been a soldier who was killed at Ft. Washington.
Isaac Howel was captured twice by the British. The second time, the British offered to release him if he enlisted with their army. He did and escaped to the American line as soon as he could.
Orasmus Holmes was in a group that marched across the Plains of Abraham and gave the signal for the attack on Quebec City. He later served with the Green Mountain Boys.
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