Note regarding 1903 NF [(995) Sternberga]

Justice Jackson and the Second Flag-Salute Case: Reason and Passion in Opinion-Writing

“…Witnesses families suffered beatings, physical intimidation, and property destruction from mobs, often while local sheriffs and other law enforcement officers stood watching in evident approval, without intervening to secure the victims' safety. 20 "Because lawless mobs may have misunderstood [Gobitis's] meaning is not in itself a reason to change it," wrote Justice Jackson's law clerk in an undated confidential memorandum. 21 Most historians acknowledge, however, that the intensity of the post-Gobitis brutality surprised and likely shocked Justices who had not anticipated such a bloody backlash against the small, peaceable religious group that had summoned their protection.…”