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Buck v. Bell: The Supreme Court Case That Inspired Hitler’s Eugenics Nightmare. In 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that states could forcibly sterilize “undesirables” like Carrie Buck—a young woman falsely labeled “feeble-minded” for being poor and pregnant out of wedlock. Justice Holmes’ infamous line? “Three generations of imbeciles are enough.” We unpack this dark chapter of American eugenics, how it greenlit 70,000+ forced sterilizations nationwide, and its chilling global ripple: Nazis modeled their 1933 sterilization law after it, citing Buck in Nuremberg defenses to justify 400,000 procedures and pave the way for the Holocaust. In plain English, discover the “science” that wasn’t, the human cost, and why this ruling—never overturned—still haunts reproductive rights today. Essential for law students, history buffs, or anyone asking: How did America export eugenics to Hitler?

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They called it progress.

Thomas Edison called it science.

But when the Supreme Court gave its blessing, electricity became something else entirely — a state-sanctioned killer.

In this eerie Halloween edition of Law School in Plain English, Jeff pulls back the curtain on one of the most haunting legal moments in American history: when innovation met execution.

This is the story of how a courtroom turned the light of invention into the spark of death — and why the Justices believed it was humane.

We’ll unpack the real case behind the electric chair, the shocking public experiments that led up to it, and how law, morality, and fear collided in the name of “civilization.”

Because sometimes the law doesn’t just decide what’s legal — it decides what it means to be human.

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Thanks for listening to Law School in Plain English. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe/follow and leave a review. Join me next time as we break down another legal concept — one principle at a time.

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You’ve probably heard the phrase, “Equal protection under the law.”

But what happens when the law looks fair on paper… and is used unfairly in real life?

In this episode, Jeff dives into one of the most overlooked Supreme Court cases in U.S. history — Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886) — where a Chinese laundry owner in San Francisco stood up to a city ordinance that claimed to be “neutral,” but was anything but.

This story isn’t just a history lesson — it’s a Hidden Verdict brought into Law School in Plain English. Because behind every rule lawyers memorize, there’s a human story that shaped it.

We’ll break down how this one man’s fight redefined the meaning of fairness, equal protection, and what the Constitution really promises — all in plain, clear English.

🎧 The law isn’t just about statutes and citations — it’s about people. And sometimes, those people change everything.

Support the show

Thanks for listening to Law School in Plain English. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe/follow and leave a review. Join me next time as we break down another legal concept — one principle at a time.