Jack Kirby on Civil Rights

Michael Dennis, Esq Joshua Gilliland, Esq. Crystal Swanson, Esq.

@TheLegalGeeks

AgendaCaptain America

Isolationism

Worst Summer Camp Ever

X-Men

Civil Rights Act

Fantastic Four

Acts of War

8th Amendment

Hulk

Neutrality ActsJudges referred to areas engaged in war as “the forbidden zone.” United States ex rel. Koentje v. Reimer, 30 F. Supp. 440, 440-441 (D.N.Y. 1939).

Neutrality Acts Prohibited:

…export of arms, ammunition, and implements of war to belligerent countries; the prohibition of the transportation of arms, ammunition, and implements of war by vessels of the United States for the use of belligerent states; for the registration and licensing of persons engaged in the business of manufacturing, exporting, or importing arms, ammunition, or implements of war; and restricting travel by American citizens on belligerent ships during war.

NEUTRALITY ACT OF 1935; NEUTRALITY ACTS

Maritime ImpactShips en route to Europe were turned around after a nation was declared a combat area by the President.

Merchant sailors tried recovering a months wages for breach of contract when forced to turn around on the way to Norway.

Court held there was no recovery, because the contract had not been breached, because the ship was not legally permitted to go to Norway.

Hopkins v. Moore-McCormack Lines, Inc., 175 Misc. 109, 110 (N.Y. City Ct. 1940).

Oxford Oath

60,000 College Students declared they would not fight for the United States on April 12,1935.

Matthew Lasar, Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 67, No. 4 (Nov., 1998), pp. 513-541"Right out in Public": Pacifica Radio, the Cold War, and the Political Origins of Alternative Media

Nazi Summer Camps in the United States

The Bund was formed in 1936 to promote Germany and the Nazi party in America

Had 70 chapters

Membership ranged from 5,000 to 25,000 members

NPR History Dept., Nazi Summer Camps In 1930s America?, April 28, 2015, http://www.npr.org/sections/

npr-history-dept/2015/04/28/402679062/nazi-summer-camps-in-1930s-america

http://www.npr.org/sections/npr-history-dept/2015/04/28/402679062/nazi-summer-camps-in-1930s-america

20,000 Attendees at Pro-Nazi rally held at Madison Square Garden in 1939

Abridged Timeline to Captain America #1

Franklin Roosevelt Elected (November 1932)

Adolph Hitler sworn in as German Chancellor (January 30, 1933)

Nazi Concentration Camps Built (March 1933)

Oxford Oath (April 1935)

Neutrality Act of 1935 (August)

The Bund Formed (1936)

Neutrality Act of 1937 (January)

Japan Invades China (July 7, 1937)

Neutrality Act of 1939 (November)

Germany Invades Poland (September 1, 1939)

Germany Invades Denmark and Norway (April 9-June 10, 1940)

Germany Invades France (May 10, 1940)

Dunkirk (May 27-June 4, 1940)

France Surrenders to Germany (June 22, 1940)

Battle of Britain (July 10-October 31, 1940)

President Roosevelt signs Military Draft Act (September 16, 1940)

Captain America issue 1, Written by Joe Simon and Art by Jack Kirby, March 1, 1941

British Navy vs Bismarck (May 27, 1941)

Germany Invades Soviet Union (June 1941)

Pearly Harbor (December 7, 1941)

Sold Nearly 1 Million Copies

Was it Legal for Cap to Catch Spies?

Posse Comitatus Act

Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

18 USCS § 1385.

Stopping German Spies

Espionage Act of 1917

Prohibits providing any information relating to national defense with the intent to injury the United States to a foreign nation.

The peacetime punishment for such a crime was 20 years and in times of war, 30 years. Espionage Act, June 15, 1917, 40 Stat. 217, § 2(a).

Military or Law Enforcement

Espionage Act of 1917

Prohibits providing any information relating to national defense with the intent to injury the United States to a foreign nation.

The peacetime punishment for such a crime was 20 years and in times of war, 30 years. Espionage Act, June 15, 1917, 40 Stat. 217, § 2(a).

Enhanced Interrogations

Standards of Conduct for Interrogation under 18 U.S.C. sections 2340-2340A drafted in 2002 for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Defined torture as "serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death“

September 1963 Stan Lee, Writer

Jack Kirby, Artist Paul Reinman, Ink S. Rosen, Letterer

Mission of the X-Men

Child Endangerment He or she knowingly acts in a manner likely to be injurious to the physical, mental or moral welfare of a child less than seventeen years old or directs or authorizes such child to engage in an occupation involving a substantial risk of danger to his or her life or health;

NY Penal Law § 260.10

Aggressive PE?

Training to Fight Crime Monitoring Health

Moments from the Civil Rights Timeline

First Freedom Rider (May 4, 1961)

Birmingham Economic Boycott and March, April 1963

MLK’s "A Letter from Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963

Bull Connor ordered fire hoses and police dogs used on student marchers in Birmingham. May 3, 1963

Medger Evers murdered, June 12, 1963

MLK’s “I Have a Dream Speech,” at the March on Washington, DC, August 28, 1963

16th Street Baptist Church Bombing, September 1963

Civil Rights Act 1964

Voting Rights Act 1965

Civil Rights Case Examples

Illegal to refuse to rent hotel room based on a person’s race.

Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States, 379 U.S. 241, 242, 85 S. Ct. 348, 350 (1964)

Restaurants cannot refuse to serve someone based on race.

Katzenbach v. McClung, 379 U.S. 294, 85 S. Ct. 377 (1964)

Right to Public Accommodation

States and cities across the United States have made it illegal to refuse to serve people because of their race or color at taverns, tippling houses, or saloons.

See, D.C. Code § 47-2902.

The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits discriminatory state action.

Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1, 13, 68 S. Ct. 836, 842, 92 L. Ed. 1161 (1948).

Crowd Turns on Beast After Saving a Child

The X-Men, Issue 8

November, 1964

Stan Lee, Writer Jack Kirby, Artist Chris Stone, Inker S. Rosen, Letterer

Things Get Ugly

Understanding Riots

A person is guilty of riot in the second degree when, simultaneously with four or more other persons, he engages in tumultuous and violent conduct and thereby intentionally or recklessly causes or creates a grave risk of causing public alarm.

N.Y. Penal Law § 240.05

Mutant Persecution

Sentinels introduced in X-Men 14, November 1965.

Stan Lee, Story

Jack Kirby, Layout

Jay Gavin, Art

V. Colletta, Ink

Artie Simek, Lettering

Fear-Mongering of Mutants

Predicted Humans Would become

Slaves to Mutants

Anthropologist Built Secret Robot Army

Who Funded this Guy?

Not Government Action

Sentinels Immediately

Betray on Creator X-Men have to save the

world from weapon system designed specifically to

harm Mutants.

Trask Recognized He wrong about Mutants

Legal Issues with Trask Building Sentinels

Built to Terrorize or Kill US Citizens based on Race

Government Action?

Are Mutants People?

Would Sentinels Be Like Drones?

DOJ White Paper on Target Killings:

An informed, high-level official of the U.S. government has determined that the targeted individual poses an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States

Capture is infeasible, and the United States continues to monitor whether capture becomes feasible; and

The operation would be conducted in a manner consistent with the applicable law of principles.

Was it Cruel and Unusual Punishment to Leave the SkRulls as Cows?

8th Amendment

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

8th Amendment, U.S. Constitution

What is Cruel and Unusual Punishment?

Eighth Amendment embodies “broad and idealistic concepts of dignity, civilized standards, humanity, and decency,” prohibits punishments which are incompatible with “the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.”

Rodriguez v. Plymouth Ambulance Serv., 577 F.3d 816, 828-829 (7th Cir. Wis. 2009).

Was the Sub-Mariner Justified in Declaring War on the Surface World for the

Destruction of Atlantis with Nuclear Weapons Tests?

Act of WarAny act occurring in the course of

(1) declared war;

(2) armed conflict, whether or not war has been declared, between two or more nations; or

(3) armed conflict between military forces of any origin.

Morris v. Khadr, 415 F. Supp. 2d 1323, 1326 (D. Utah 2006), citing 18 U.S.C.S. § 2331(4).

What is the Soviet Union’s Liability for the Hulk?

Igor Was a “RED” Spy!

US Government Liability for The Hulk?

Can Bruce Banner Argue the Insanity Defense?

Thank You!