William Howard Taft

Supreme Court Reverses Coronado Decision, Opens Unions to Antitrust Liability

| Importance: 9/10

The Supreme Court unanimously reverses its 1922 Coronado decision, ruling that the United Mine Workers local union violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by conspiring to restrain interstate commerce in coal. After the Court’s first ruling favored the union by finding insufficient evidence of …

William Howard Taft U.S. Supreme Court United Mine Workers of America Coronado Coal Company labor-suppression judicial-capture anti-union antitrust
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Supreme Court Rules Unincorporated Unions Can Be Sued in Coronado Coal Case

| Importance: 7/10

The Supreme Court rules in United Mine Workers v. Coronado Coal Co. that unincorporated labor unions can be sued in federal court as legal entities, establishing a precedent that exposes unions to potentially devastating civil liability. The case arises from Arkansas’s Sebastian County Union …

William Howard Taft U.S. Supreme Court United Mine Workers of America Coronado Coal Company labor-suppression judicial-capture anti-union antitrust
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Supreme Court Strikes Down Federal Child Labor Tax as Unconstitutional

| Importance: 8/10

The Supreme Court rules 8-1 in Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co. (the Child Labor Tax Case) that the Revenue Act of 1919, which imposed a 10 percent excise tax on profits of companies employing children under age 14, violates the Tenth Amendment. Chief Justice William Howard Taft declares the tax …

William Howard Taft U.S. Supreme Court U.S. Congress Drexel Furniture Company judicial-capture labor-suppression corporate-power supreme-court child-labor
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Supreme Court Invalidates Arizona Anti-Injunction Law in Truax v. Corrigan

| Importance: 8/10

The Supreme Court rules 5-4 in Truax v. Corrigan that an Arizona law prohibiting state courts from issuing injunctions against peaceful labor picketing violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Chief Justice William Howard Taft, writing for the majority, holds that the Arizona …

William Howard Taft U.S. Supreme Court Arizona State Legislature labor-suppression judicial-capture anti-union supreme-court
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Theodore Roosevelt Forms Bull Moose Party After GOP Convention Theft: Republican Split Ensures Wilson Victory

| Importance: 9/10

Theodore Roosevelt accepted the Progressive Party nomination for president at a convention in Chicago, formally splitting from the Republican Party after losing the nomination to his former friend William Howard Taft despite winning nine of twelve state primaries. Roosevelt’s “Bull …

Theodore Roosevelt William Howard Taft Woodrow Wilson Progressive Party Republican National Committee progressive-era third-party republican-party political-realignment corporate-power
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Roosevelt Leaves Office After 44 Antitrust Suits, Revealing Progressive Era Reform Limits

| Importance: 8/10

When Theodore Roosevelt left office on March 4, 1909, his administration had filed 44 antitrust lawsuits (18 civil and 26 criminal cases, resulting in 22 convictions and 22 acquittals) against major corporations including Northern Securities, Standard Oil, American Tobacco, the Beef Trust, and Du …

Theodore Roosevelt William Howard Taft J.P. Morgan U.S. Department of Justice Interstate Commerce Commission antitrust corporate-power progressive-era regulatory-enforcement presidential-legacy
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Water Cure Torture Scandal - Senate Investigation Exposes Systematic Abuse

| Importance: 8/10

The Senate Committee on the Philippines embarks on a highly publicized investigation into “Affairs in the Philippine Islands” after letters from ordinary American soldiers in the Philippines surface in hometown newspapers containing graphic accounts of torture and atrocities. At the …

Theodore Roosevelt William Howard Taft Senate Committee on the Philippines Anti-imperialist Senators U.S. Army soldiers +1 more imperialism torture war-crimes accountability-crisis philippines +1 more
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