No Such Thing as Justice Trivia Quiz

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.