Legal News for Fri 4/24 - Soldier Busted Betting on Polymarket re Maduro, Judge Salas and Privacy, and Spirit Airlines Government Ownership Stake?
This Day in Legal History: Nix v. Hedden
On April 24, 1893, the U.S. Supreme Court received submissions in Nix v. Hedden, the famous case asking whether a tomato should be treated as a fruit or a vegetable. The question sounds like the setup to a joke, but the legal issue was practical and financial: under the Tariff Act of 1883, imported vegetables were taxed, while fruits were not.
That meant the classification of tomatoes had real consequences for importers bringing tomatoes into the United States. The plaintiffs argued that tomatoes are fruits in the botanical sense because they grow from…
The skinny
The skinny isn't ready yet — notes appear once the transcript is processed.