One of the coming features at CourtListener is an API for the law. Part of that feature is going to be some basic information about the courts themselves, so I spent some time over the weekend researching courts that served a special purpose but were since abolished.

One such court was the Emergency Court of Appeals. It was created during World War II to set prices, and, naturally, was the court of appeals for many cases. The creation date of the court is prominently published in various places on the Internet, but the abolishment history of the court was very difficult to find. After researching online for some time, and learning that my library card had expired (sigh), I put in a query with the Library of Congress, which provides free research of these types of things.

Within a couple days, the provided me with this amazing response, which I'm sharing here, and on the above Wikipedia article:

As stated in the Legislative Notes to 50 U.S. Code Appendix §§ 921 to 926, as posted at
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode50a/usc_sec_50a_00000921---..., the following explanation is given regarding the amendment and repeal of Act of Jan. 30, 1942, ch. 26, title II, § 204, 56 Stat. 23, 31-33:

"Section 924, acts Jan. 30, 1942, ch. 26, title II, § 204, 56 Stat. 31; June 30, 1944, ch. 325, title I, § 107, 58 Stat. 639; June 30, 1945, ch. 214, § 6, 59 Stat. 308; July 30, 1947, ch. 361, title I, § 101, 61 Stat. 619; June 25, 1948, ch. 646, § 32(a), 62 Stat. 991; May 24, 1949, ch. 139, § 127, 63 Stat. 107, authorized review of orders of the Office of Price Administrator under the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, and created the Emergency Court of Appeals for this purpose. The Emergency Price Control Act of 1942 terminated on June 30, 1947, under the provisions of act July 25, 1946, ch. 671, § 1, 60 Stat. 664. The Housing and Rent Act of 1948, act Mar. 30, 1948, ch. 161, 62 Stat. 93, classified to section 1881 of this Appendix, continued the Court for the purpose of reviewing recommendations of local advisory boards for the decontrol or adjustment of maximum rents. Later, the Defense Production Act of 1950, act Sept. 8, 1950, ch. 932, 64 Stat. 798, classified to sections 2061 to 2166 of this Appendix, continued the Court to review regulations and orders relating to price control. The Housing and Rent Act of 1948 and the Defense Production Act of 1950 both terminated, however, the Court remained in existence “to complete the adjudication of rights and liabilities incurred prior to their termination dates.” (Transcript of Proceedings of the Final Session of the Court, 299 F.2d 1.) The final decision of the Court, Rosenzweig v. General Services Administration, 1961, 299 F.2d 22, was decided on Dec. 6, 1961. A petition for rehearing was denied on Jan. 2, 1962, and a petition for writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States was denied on Mar. 19, 1962, 82 S. Ct. 830.

The order of Chief Judge Albert B. Maris, set forth in 299 F.2d 20, provided:

“The business of this Court having been completed, it is ordered that at the expiration of 30 days from this date, if a petition for certiorari has not been filed in the Supreme Court in Case No. 676 [Rosenzweig v. General Services Administration], just decided, the acting clerk shall deliver the records and papers of the Court in his office to the General Services Administration for permanent custody as records of the Government, and shall thereupon inform the Chief Justice of the United States that the work of the Court has been completed and that the designations of the judges of the Court may therefore appropriately be terminated.

“If a petition for certiorari is filed in Case No. 676 this order shall take effect and be carried out at the expiration of 30 days after the final disposition of Case No. 676.”

In accordance with the terms of this order, the petition for certiorari having been filed, and denied Mar. 19, 1962, the Court terminated on Apr. 18, 1962."

Pretty fantastic research. And for free! Thanks LOC.

There has been some talk in my family over the years about my great grandfather, Meyer Lissner. Over the holidays, I scanned some old photos, and discovered that he was quite the famous fellow. Below is a liberty ship that was named after him in 1943.

I also learned that my grandfather donated a LOT of his papers to the Stanford Library as the Meyer Lissner Papers. I haven't read up much on him yet, but he seems pretty influential to California history as part of a reform movement.

Interesting stuff. I'm going to have to do some researching on this fellow one of these days.

I've been reading some excellent stuff by Howard Zinn of late. I've tried three times now to read his most excellent People's History of the United States, but I have always failed for one reason or another. I guess it's just too dense for everyday, casual reading. This time however, I stumbled upon a much more readable book by him, Passionate Declarations. It's tying in rather well with some thoughts I've been having about our electorate system, so I thought I would post a quick quote from it to share the wealth:

What sorts of values and ideals are encouraged in the young people of the coming generation by the enormous emphasis on the Founding Fathers and the presidents? It seems to me that the result is the creation of dependency on powerful political figures to solve our problems.

We were being exploited by England? Well, the Founding Fathers took care of that in leading the struggle for independence. Was the nation morally blighted by the existence of 4 million black slaves? Abraham Lincoln solved that with the Emancipation Proclamation. Did we have a terrible economic crisis in the early 1930s? Franklin Roosevelt got us out of that one. Do we face enormous problems today? Well, the solution is to find the right president, to go to the polls and choose either the Republican or Democratic candidate.

Consider how much attention is given in historical writing to military affairs—to wars and battles—and how many of our heroes are military heroes. And consider also how little attention is given to antiwar movements and to those who struggled against the idiocy of war.

...

As a result of omitting, or downplaying, the importance of social movements of the people in our history...a fundamental principle of democracy is undermined: the principle that it is the citizenry, rather than the government, that is the ultimate source of power and the locomotive that pulls the train of government in the direction of equality and justice. Such histories create a passive and subordinate citizenry.

I don't think I could put it much better than that, but in related news, I completed the first round of election pollster training today. Come February 5, I shall be a clerk of the polls (for better or worse).