The Verdict on Advertisements for Near Eastern Antiquities—Dubitante

Home > Magazines > BAR > November/December 1984

Supreme Court Justices are paid to decide difficult cases. In 1951, however, Justice Felix Frankfurter heard a case he couldn’t decide.a His brethren voted to affirm the decision of the court below. But Justice Frankfurter couldn’t make up his mind. So he took the unusual—perhaps unique—step of filing an opinion neither affirming nor reversing, but dubitante, in doubt. Editors are supposed to have opinions. That’s what they editorialize about. And BAR’s editor is certainly not shy about expressing his opinions—forcefully and unequivocally. But on the subject about which I write now, I must file dubitante. Perhaps some readers will […]

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Footnotes

RCA v. United States, 341 U.S. 412.

See “How the Dead Sea Scrolls Were Found,” BAR 01:04, by Harry Thomas Frank.

See “Bedouin Find Papyri Three Centuries Older Than Dead Sea Scrolls,” BAR 04:01, by Paul W. Lapp, and “The Historical Importance of the Samaria Papyri,” BAR 04:01, by Frank Moore Cross.

See “Excavating Anthropoid Coffins in the Gaza Strip,” BAR 02:01, and “What We Know About the Philistines,” BAR 08:04, by Trude Dothan.