GODORT Connection, Vol.3 , Issue 3

Alabama Library Association Government Documents Roundtable November 2020 Volume 3, Issue 3

GODORT Connection

U. S. Supreme Court—Image retrieved from Wikimedia Commons.

Moderator’s Corner These certainly are tumultuous times. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage throughout the land leaving a trail of destruction in terms of death and illness, financial ruin for millions, and serious disruption of normal life for nearly all of us. We have a very polarizing national election (not yet decided as of this writing), a very controversial U.S. Supreme Court nomination, and natural disasters including wildfires in the West and hurricanes in the Southeast.

On top of all this, we continue to experience serious unrest and protest over racial injustice in many cities.

Along with just about everyone else, the Alabama Library Association including this round table continue to function primarily via remote means. The two most recent Executive Council meetings have been entirely remote and I expect the next meeting, scheduled for December 4, to be held remotely too. Similarly, GODORT business continues to be done remotely, primarily via e-mail but also by the occasional meeting held via Zoom. While my perhaps old-fashioned preference for in-person meetings is not really feasible, I am grateful for the opportunity for conducting round table and association business via modern technology. We can still get things accomplished despite the virus!

Please take note that I will be presenting a webinar on December 7 (yes, Pearl Harbor Day) on the Library of Congress Slave Narratives. Details along with a registration link will be available soon. Mary Beth Newbill will hopefully be presenting a webinar on using Census records for genealogical research early in 2021. We will be making plans for a program for the ALLA annual convention to be held in April in Montgomery. At this date it is unclear if it will be an in-person or perhaps partially virtual convention but either way, once the program proposal announcement goes out, we will want to apply so that GODORT will have a presence at the convention.

Soon the ALLA Nominating committee will be seeking nominees for Association offices for the 2021-2022 membership year. This means for GODORT, we will need nominees for Moderator-elect and Secretary-Treasurer. If YOU are interested in running for one of these offices, please let me know.

As the difficult year of 2020 starts drawing to a close, I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays. Let’s hope 2021 will be a year of recovery for us all.

Tim Dodge Auburn University Inside this issue ALLA GODORT Steering Committee….….…….2 A Tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg...……….......…3 U.S. Supreme Court and Presidential Politics…….4 Documenting the Vine and Olive Colony................5 Resources on Voting & the Electoral College...…..6

Officers

Tim Dodge, GODORT Moderator 2019 - 2020 He has been employed at Auburn University Libraries since 1992, starting out as a government documents reference librarian. Since 2000, he has been serving as History and since 2008 as Political Science Subject Specialist in the Reference Department at Auburn. Tim held previous positions as a special collections librarian and archivist, serials librarian, and reference librarian at the University of New Hampshire (twice) and at Barry University (Miami, Fla.). Tim has held numerous offices in the Alabama Library Association including President (2004-2005) and ModeratorElect and Moderator of GODORT in

1994-1996. He has also held numerous offices in the Alabama Association of College and Research Libraries including President (20002001 and 2008-2009), and is currently President of the Southeastern Library Association. Under the name Dr. Hepcat, Tim Dodge has hosted the Golden Oldies radio show on WEGL – Auburn FM 91.1 since May 1998.

His radio career extends back to 1975, and Tim is the author of The School of Arizona Dranes: Gospel Music Pioneer (Lexington Books, 2013). He is also the author of Rhythm and Blues Goes Calypso (Lexington Books, 2019).

OPEN POSITION: GODORT Moderator-Elect, 20192020 We are currently looking for someone to volunteer for the Alabama Library Association’s GODORT Moderator-Elect position. According to the GODORT Bylaws, the official role of the Moderator-Elect is as follows: “The Moderator-elect shall perform the duties of the Moderator in the absence of the Moderator; shall be a member of the Steering Committee; shall be responsible for the program at

the annual meeting; shall serve as Membership Chairperson; and shall serve as an aide to the Moderator.”

Furthermore, the Moderator-Elect takes part in the Steering Committee which provides leadership for the round table, which includes meeting regularly.

For more information, please contact Tim Dodge at dodgeti@auburn.edu.

Rickey Best, GODORT Secretary 2019 - 2020 Rickey Best has been employed at Auburn University, Montgomery since 1986. He is also the contact for one of the two FDLP Alabama Regional depository libraries— AUM. He received his MLIS from the University of California, Berkeley in 1986. He also has a Masters of Arts degree in Historic Resources Management—Archives from the University of California, Riverside.

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A Tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg By: Kelly M. Wilson

On September 18, 2020, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away from complications of pancreatic cancer. She had served as a Justice for just over 27 years. In the history of the U.S. Supreme Court, she was only the second female to have been appointed as a Justice. Since her appointment, two more females have been added to the Court since then. The first female Justice had been Sandra Day O'Connor who served from 1981 to 2006. Let that sink in. The Supreme Court was established in 1789; however, it was not until 1981 that the first female court justice was appointed. This means that for 192 years only men made up the Court and could make the decisions for all cases that came through.

While Ginsburg had numerous accomplishments, the following from the Supreme Court’s site are some that stand out the most. In 1971, she co-founded the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). She also served as the General counsel for the ACLU from 1973 to 1980 as well as the ACLU’s National Board of Directors from 1974 to 1980. As further proof of Ginsburg’s fight for women’s rights, in the 1970s, she presented the oral argument for 6 major landmark sex discrimination cases. Of these cases, five prevailed, and they are: • • • •

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Frontiero v. Richardson (1973) -- “Ginsburg won for women serving in our armed forces equal benefits for their dependents”; Weinberger v. Wiesenfield (1975) -- a provision of the Social Security Act was deemed discriminatory because it granted survivor benefits to a widow with minor children but not to a widower with minor children; Edwards v. Healy (1975) -- In Louisiana, there had been a law exempting women from voting unless they petitioned and gave a reason why they wanted to vote in an election.

Califano v. Goldfarb (1977) -- This case was similar to the Weinberger in that if focused on social security; however, this time the sex-based difference was that “a widow automatically received survivors’ benefits” while “a widower received such benefits only if he was getting more tha[n] half his support from his deceased wife.” This was struck down by the Court.

Duren v. Missouri (1979) -- In this case, a Missouri law was struck down because it exempted women from jury service upon request.

Your eyes did not deceive you. Yes, Ginsburg focused on equal rights for women AND men. She seemed to be a firm believer that gender-equality is not solely about equal rights for women. With these cases, she proved to be a force to be reckoned with.

It is a very long read, but I recommend at least skimming the “Nomination of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, to be associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States -- Hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate” which can be found here [this is a catalog record, but the link to the PDF is on the left hand side of the screen]. Interestingly, the Chairman of the committee was Joe Biden, who is currently running for president.

I have no idea where the Supreme Court will go from here. On her deathbed, Ginsburg pleaded for her seat to not be filled until the new presidential term began. The U.S. Congress ignored this request of someone who gave 27 years of her life to the Supreme Court. To them, her voice, her strength, her fight, meant nothing.

With Ginsburg’s death, her legacy has been passed down to us. It is our time to fight, to let our voices be heard, and to not let anyone tell us we cannot do something simply because of our gender. Rest in Peace, RBG.

Image retrieved from https:// www.supremecourt.gov/about/ biographyGinsburg.aspx

More Resources U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 2019 National Book Festival— https://www.loc.gov/item/ webcast-8808/ Reflections on the Life and Legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg—https:// newsroom.courts.ca.gov/news/ reflections-life-and-legacyjustice-ruth-bader-ginsburg Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a Deciding Vote on the Supreme Court: Select Data— https://crsreports.congress.gov/ product/pdf/R/R46546

Supreme Court Speeches— https://www.supremecourt.gov/ publicinfo/speeches/ speeches.aspx The Death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Initial Considerations for Congress, Sept. 21, 2020—https:// crsreports.congress.gov/ product/pdf/LSB/LSB10537

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The US Supreme Court and Presidential Politics

By Tim Dodge, Auburn University

Image retrieved from Wikimedia Commons

References 1. Donald E. Lively. Landmark Supreme Court Cases: A Reference Guide (Westport, CT. Greenwood Press, 1999), 5.

2. James C. Duram, “The Battle to Save the Court: The Kansas Press and the Court Packing Fight of 1937” in Stephen K. Shaw et al, editors. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Transformation of the Supreme Court, Vol. 3 (Armonk, N.Y. M.E. Sharpe, 2004), 67.

3. U.S. Senate. 75th Congress, 1st Session. S. Res. 161, To Investigate Matters Relating to the Reorganization of Federal Courts, the Appointment of Additional Judges Thereof, and the Reform of Judicial Procedure. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1937.

4. Charles Wells. Inside Bush v Gore (Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2013), xii.

5. Ibid., xii.

6. Matthew N. Green. “In Congress, the Parties Are Locked in a Political Arms Race,” The Washington Post (September 25, 2020), 9.

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With the recent death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg followed by the very rapid nomination of Amy Coney Barrett by President Donald Trump to replace her, the United States Supreme Court is once again a focus of public attention. I’d like to reflect a bit on the significance of the Supreme Court in relation to presidential politics. The federal government consists of three branches: the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial. Of these, the Judicial, in theory, is the least political. Supreme Court appointments are normally for life following confirmation by the U.S. Senate. In practice, politics are a factor whether this involves nominations and confirmations, the cases which the court hears, and the reactions of politicians and the general public to the opinions rendered by the Supreme Court.

Presidential politics have been a factor since the very early days of the Republic. The Marbury v. Madison decision of 1803 concerned the federal judiciary in general, not the Supreme Court, but had the effect of placing the Supreme Court in the position of having the power of deciding if an action of the Legislative or Executive branch of the U.S. government was constitutional, thus elevating the Judiciary to a powerful third branch of the government. 1 Outgoing President John Adams, a Federalist, sought to cause problems for incoming Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic Republican, in 1801, by packing the federal judiciary with the last-minute appointment of 42 judges sympathetic to the Federalist Party. (Doesn’t this resonate with the presidential politics of 2020?) The case concerned the delivery or, actually, the non-delivery of these judicial commissions. The Court ruled in favor of James Madison (Jefferson’s Secretary of State and future President) and against William Marbury (one of the judges who had not received his commission before Jefferson’s inauguration).

One of the most famous examples of presidential politics relating to the Supreme Court is the “court packing” attempt made by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1937. After handily winning re-election in 1936, Roosevelt felt he had a mandate to make the Supreme Court more cooperative in ruling on cases arising from the passage of New Deal legislation (having been stymied at times during his first term as President). 2 Consequently, Democratic Senator Carl A. Hatch (New Mexico) introduced Senate Resolution 161 (To Investigate Matters Relating to the Reorganization of Federal Courts, the Appointment of Additional Judges Thereof, and the Reform of Judicial Procedure) where it died in the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 22, 1937. 3 The bill caused considerable public controversy. To this day, references can be found in history textbooks to Roosevelt’s unsuccessful “court packing scheme.”

The closely fought election of 2000 was ultimately decided by a very controversial ruling of the Supreme Court in favor of George W. Bush. The Bush margin of victory over Al Gore was 537 votes. The real controversy was in connection to the 175,010 Florida ballots not counted by vote-tabulating machines in urban areas, affecting primarily Democratic voters. 4 Although the election took place on November 7th, it was not fully decided until December 12th. The Florida Supreme Court, by a four to three vote, ordered a statewide manual recount of the contested ballots. As most of us old enough to remember will recall, the news covered problems with the punch-card paper ballots in some cases not being properly punched through (“hanging chads,” anyone?). On December 9, 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court by a five to four vote overturned the Florida Supreme Court decision, stopping the recount that was still in progress.5 Democratic candidate Al Gore conceded the election in favor of Republican George W. Bush. The implications of a six to three conservative majority U.S. Supreme Court in the event of the need for a ruling on a potentially contested 2020 presidential election are obvious.

As we know, presidential politics has more recently embroiled the Supreme Court, first with Senate Leader Mitch McConnell’s dubious reasoning behind his blockage of even holding a hearing on the nomination of Merrick Garland, by President Barack Obama in 2016, following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Even with more than eight months to go prior to the election, McConnell reasoned that “the people” should be given a choice via the presidential election since the Senate was controlled by one party (Republican) while the President was of another party (Democratic). However, with the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in September, 2020, Senator McConnell flipped his position from 2016 and announced his eagerness to not only hold a hearing but to confirm President Trump’s nominee less than two months before the presidential election, this time reasoning that “the people” had made their choice by virtue of the fact that both the Senate and the President were under Republican control. There is speculation that should Joe Biden be elected President and should the Senate come under Democratic control, that “court packing” might be a consequence of the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. 6 Whether one is a Democrat or a Republican, a liberal or conservative, or somewhere in between, there is no denying that presidential politics have had a major impact on the U.S. Supreme Court in recent years. Presidential politics have intruded on the Supreme Court in the past, but, perhaps, not quite as egregiously as in our present-day experience.

Documenting the Vine and Olive Colony

By Mary Beth Newbill, Birmingham Public Library The story of the Vine and Olive Colony of Marengo County is a well-known piece of early Alabama history. It’s been written about many times and is always a topic of interest. Of course, the colony ultimately failed at its stated goal of the cultivation of grapes and olives by French expatriates fleeing a hostile, newly restored monarchy, but that very failure is probably what makes it such a romantic and enduring footnote to Alabama history. Historians such as Rafe Blaufarb, author of Bonapartists in the Borderlands: French Exiles and Refugees on the Gulf Coast, 1815-1835, are adding to our understanding of this curious episode which is far more complicated and nuanced than originally presented.

Since the colony required Congressional approval, it has been well documented in a variety of government publications. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the documents that pertain to its establishment, for those documents provide a wonderful example of how government information can be used for historical and genealogical research.

Maps are always useful sources and can be found tucked away in Congressional reports, hearings, etc. In the case of the Vine and Olive Colony, there can be no doubt as to its location thanks to this map, which was published by Congress and accompanied the March 3, 1817, law establishing the Society for the Cultivation of the Vine and Olive. It clearly shows the four townships in Marengo County which had been set aside for the colony.

The Territorial Papers of the United States include letters between government officials, petitions by settlers to their territorial government, and notices of mail left at local post offices. For the earliest mention of the Vine and Olive Colony one must consult Volume 6, The Territory of Mississippi (as Alabama was part of the Mississippi Territory at the time of the colony’s inception).

Documentation of the colony continues in Volume 18, The Territory of Alabama. Items of interest include letters to and from officials in Alabama and Washington, D.C. regarding the surveying of the land and a letter from the settlers requesting a justice of the peace for the settlement. One especially poignant letter written by a member of the colony to the territorial governor, William Wyatt Bibb, describes the effect that eight months of drought have had on the hopes of the settlers (The Territorial Papers of the United States. Vol. 18, p. 457).

The American State Papers are a vast source of information on the early years of our country and the workings of the U.S. Government. Published in 38 volumes, divided into 10 series, and covering the years 1789-1837, the American State Papers contain Congressional documents that offer us glimpses into how our ancestors interacted with their government in the country’s infancy. Series VIII, deals with Public Lands (land claims, bounty land, etc.) and this is where you will find a complete list of the original landowners of the Vine and Olive Colony and the amount of land they received (American State Papers, Volume 4, Public Lands, 1823 -1827, pp. 149-152). This is sure to be of interest to family and local historians.

Even though much has been written about the Vine and Olive Colony, seeing the documents that were generated by its creation is a great way to experience history and rediscover some classic government documents.

William Wyatt Bibb, The Territorial Papers of the U.S., v. 18, p. 457. https:// babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt? id=uc1.31210016047118&view=1up&se q=481

Map of four townships in Marengo County, Alabama: granted to the french [sic] immigrants by act of Congress 3rd March 1817.

American State Papers, Vol. 4, Public Lands, 1823-1827, pp. 149-152. https:// memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage? collId=llsp&fileName=031/ llsp031.db&recNum=161

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Resources on Voting & the Electoral College Alabama Library Association GODORT Provides a forum for librarians working with government documents. Objectives also include the promotion of availability, use and bibliographic control of documents; and the promotion of communication between documents librarians and other librarians. GODORT is an affiliate of the American Library Association. Membership is open to any member of the Association who subscribes to the objectives of the roundtable.

Primary Elections by state and territory — https:// www.fvap.gov/guide/appendix/state-elections “Find My State or Local Election Office Website” — https:// www.usa.gov/election-office Distribution of Electoral Votes — https://www.archives.gov/ electoral-college/allocation United States electoral college, votes by state [Map] — https:// www.loc.gov/resource/g3701f.cp000001/ Direct Election of Senators [Article] — https:// www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/ Direct_Election_Senators.htm Election and Voting Information — https://www.fec.gov/ introduction-campaign-finance/election-and-votinginformation/

Submit Your Work Do you have an interesting experience with local, state or federal government information? Write up an article and share it with us!

You can send it to: Tim Dodge: dodgeti@auburn.edu

Kelly Wilson: kelly.m.wilson2011@gmail.com

The Electoral College: A 2020 Presidential Election Timeline [Article] — https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/ IF11641 Military Voter — https://www.fvap.gov/military-voter Presidential Election Process — https://www.usa.gov/election What is the Electoral College? — https://www.archives.gov/ electoral-college/about Electoral College Fast Facts — https://history.house.gov/ Institution/Electoral-College/Electoral-College/

Elections 2020: The Electoral College (FPC Briefing) — https://www.state.gov/briefings-foreign-press-centers/elections2020-the-electoral-college/