No Such Thing as Justice Quiz | Specialized History

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Let's start with some Supreme Court subversions of justice for the first three questions. Which lamentable case of the pre-Civil War era involved telling a former slave that he was in fact property, and therefore had no standing to sue for his freedom?

Answer: Dred Scott v. Sanford

Dred Scott was a slave who had lived for a time in "free" Northern states that did not permit slavery, and claimed that therefore he could sue for his freedom. The Supreme Court ruled that not only did he lose his case, but that he never had the right to bring one - being a slave and not a legal person.

2. This next Supreme Court case of 1896 upheld the "separate but equal" rule for how different races could be treated. Which travesty of justice was this?

Answer: Plessy v. Ferguson

Plessy v. Ferguson ruled that separate accommodations for different races were legal, under the "separate but equal" doctrine canonized in "Jim Crow" laws in the US. This was overruled in Brown v. Board of Education, where it was officially stated that differentiating access to things by race was illegal.

3. Which Supreme Court case ruled that Japanese-Americans could be held in internment camps in the United States during World War Two, a travesty that the government apologized for decades later?

Answer: Korematsu v. United States

Korematsu allowed for the various camps set up after Pearl Harbor where Japanese-Americans - both those born in Japan and those born in the United States - to be held without due process. In 1988 the government apologized to those involved in the original case and to the Japanese community at large.

4. In this famous 1925 trial in Tennessee, a teacher was convicted of teaching scientifically accepted material that was also in the state-sanctioned textbooks. However, a new law had popped up making that material illegal, and he was convicted in a wildly overhyped trial. Which bizarre chapter in the history of the justice system was this?

Answer: The Scopes Monkey Trial

The Scopes Monkey Trial refers to John Scopes, the substitute teacher who was picked out by the ACLU to test the unjust law. Sure enough, the unjust law came down on him, and while the publicity largely made the law look silly, the jury did convict him. The conviction was later overturned on the technicality that the judge, and not the jury, had set the fine.

5. Which American city boasted a set of cruel witchcraft trials in 1692, where 19 people, mostly women, were hanged and one man was "pressed" to death in a frenzy about supernatural criminality?

Answer: Salem, MA

The Salem witchcraft trials were an infamous episode in colonial history, where a group of young women fell victim to "witchcraft" which caused them to hallucinate and have other bizarre symptoms. A group of mostly elderly women were convicted of the "crimes" and executed before the madness subsided.

6. This man was convicted of the murder of a 13-year-old girl in Georgia in 1913, with what many believed to have been heavily doctored evidence. The governor granted a commutation of the sentence, which stirred up hatred in the Southern mobs who lynched him to pre-empt further clemency (the man was a Northern Jew and unpopular in the area). Who was this, whose story was the basis for the musical "Parade"?

Answer: Leo Frank

Leo Frank was convicted on weak evidence, whether he was guilty or not - and was undoubtedly the victim of anti-Semitism, anti-Northernism, and anti-capitalism sentiment since the girl who died worked at his factory for a pitiful wage. The entire trial was performed with a loud mob that cheered wildly at the ultimate conviction - and no attempt was made to move the trial to a more neutral location, though a Supreme Court dissenting opinion by Chief Justice Hughes declared that the jury was doubtlessly swayed by "the mob".

The men who later killed Frank called themselves "The Knights of Mary Phagan" and included many pillars of the community and legal system.

7. A French officer who was wrongfully convicted of treason in a 1894-5 trial. He was sent to Devil's Island and inspired the scathing social critique "J'accuse" by Emile Zola. Who was this unfortunate man, whose "Affair" angered France?

Answer: Alfred Dreyfus

Alfred Dreyfus of the "Dreyfus Affair" was wrongfully convicted of the treason that Ferdinand Esterhazy most likely committed, largely on the evidence of a "secret dossier" that historians believe was falsified - as well as a second secret dossier that flat-out did not exist. Anti-Semitism was key in convicting Dreyfus as it was a widespread sentiment in France at the time, though eventually (after two appeal trials) he was pardoned, exonerated, and reinstated in the military.

8. Which American woman, whose vote in 1872 led to a conviction for voting and a ruling that the 14th amendment did not in fact allow women to vote, was a standard-bearer for the women's suffrage movement nonetheless?

Answer: Susan B. Anthony

Susan B. Anthony became a legend for her passionate advocacy for women's rights, but when she voted in 1872, it was a crime and she was convicted. She remained adamant against paying her fine, however, and it was not ever collected, though the cause did take years to finally result in the 19th amendment which allowed women's suffrage.

9. Which Renaissance-era proponent of the Copernican theory of heliocentrism ran afoul of powerful Church figures, notably Cardinal Bellarmine and ultimately the Pope, and found himself formally and legally required to renounce his views by the Inquisition?

Answer: Galileo

Galileo felt himself too secure in his powerful friends, and wrote a satire about his science, putting the "religious" side of things in the mouth of an idiotic character. This did not go over well even among his friends (as the Pope had once been), and he was forced to legally argue against his own science to appease the Inquisition - and live under house arrest the rest of his life.

The Church apologized to Galileo - in the 20th century.

10. This ancient Greek philosopher also ran afoul of religious and civil authority and was convicted of heresy and corrupting the youth of Athens - leading directly to his execution by drinking hemlock. Which philosopher was this?

Answer: Socrates

Socrates, teacher of Plato and noted philosopher in Athens, was well known as someone who would teach the youth his critical thinking. Due to allegations of atheism, the idea of him spreading his views threatened the authorities, and they convicted him of a capital crime. Despite offers of escape help from his students and friends, he accepted his fate.

Source: Author merylfederman

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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No Such Thing as Justice Trivia Quiz

Sometimes legal decisions are just no good - let's take a trip through the history of face-palmingly bad so-called "justice" system travesties.

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