Appendix E?

October 15, 2017 2:47 PM

Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in a speech : Take the case nonetheless the Solicitor General urged, for the Court of Appeals decision "casts a cloud of unconstitutionality upon the many federal statutes listed in Appendix E."

“What was Appendix E? It was a printout from the Department of Defense computer (an unexpected release in those ancient pre-PC days); the printout listed, title by title, provisions of the U.S. Code "containing differentiations based upon sex-related criteria." It was a treasure trove. One could use the Solicitor General's list to press for curative legislation and, at the same time, bring to courts contests capable of capturing public attention and accelerating the pace of change.”

What would this Appendix E have looked like? A list of Federal statute numbers?

posted by Ideefixe to Law & Government (7 answers total)

I can't give you detailed instructions how to get it, but the full record of all Supreme Court cases is available to you (unless it was considered confidential). You can find and read Appendix E.
posted by JimN2TAW at 3:59 PM on October 15, 2017

Response by poster: The case she’s referring to wasn’t argued before the Supreme Court. The Solictor General asked the Supreme Court, in March 1973, to review a decision in a case the ACLU had won at the Court of Appeals level, Charles E. Moritz v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue.
posted by Ideefixe at 5:25 PM on October 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

It would have been filed with the SG's brief to the Court in support of certiorari. It should, at least in theory, be on microfiche at the listed law libraries, even though the Court did not take the case.
posted by deeaytch at 5:30 PM on October 15, 2017

Best answer: In case it helps, the case number in the Supreme Court was 72-1298 and the cite to the case from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit that the Supreme Court did not review is Moritz v. C. I. R., 469 F.2d 466 (10th Cir. 1972).

As for what the appendix looked like, your guess sounds right, though it may have included some description of each law. Maybe something like Appendix A to this brief (at page 71 of the pdf): https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/osg/briefs/2017/01/25/16-54bslynch.pdf
posted by Xalf at 6:15 PM on October 15, 2017

Best answer: I have access to a database containing the records and briefs for Supreme Court cases. As deeaytch has pointed out, Appendix E is in the cert petition. It's titled "PROVISIONS OF THE UNITED STATES CODE CONTAINING DIFFERENTIATIONS BASED UPON SEX-RELATED CRITERIA." I can tell you that it's just a list of US Code sections separated by title like this:

Title 11 (Bankruptcy).
Section 35(a)(7).

Title 12 (Banks and Banking).
Section 1715m(g).
posted by mnumberger at 7:30 AM on October 16, 2017

In case you're interested, Appendix E was likely the basis for a 1977 report from the US Commission on Civil Rights called "Sex Bias in the U.S. Code." Ginsburg co-authored the report with Brenda Feigen-Fasteau and 15 students from Columbia Law.
posted by mnumberger at 7:38 AM on October 16, 2017

Response by poster: Thanks very much for this! I have the Sex Bias document but needed the cert petition info.
posted by Ideefixe at 8:41 AM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]