BEASTLY VOCABULARY
BEFORE HE WAS PRESIDENT
THE SUPREME COURT
CRABBY!
AMERICAN LITERATURE
100

A protective spine of a porcupine, or a stiff tail feather of a bird used as a pen

a quill

100

He accepted Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House

Grant

100

Mapp v. Ohio (1961) determined that a state prosecution couldn't introduce evidence obtained by a search without this

a warrant

100

Like a lobster or a shrimp, a crab has one of these; unlike them, it keeps it curled under its midsection

a tail

100

A poem of his says grass is "the beautiful uncut hair of graves"

Walt Whitman

200

"Lupine" means similar to this animal

a wolf

200

He was a law professor at the University of Arkansas

Clinton

200

In 2004, Sandra Day O'Connor wrote an opinion establishing that U.S. citizens who are enemy combatants do have rights under this Bill of Rights amendment not to be held indefinitely without due process

the Fifth Amendment

200

The robber crab of the South Pacific is also called this, from the palm product that's its principal diet

coconut crab

200

This Poe story tells of a prisoner's torture during the Spanish Inquisition

"The Pit and the Pendulum"

300

Jump into this one-piece outfit like those worn by Michelle Pfeiffer & Uma Thurman on film

a catsuit

300

He commanded PT-109

Kennedy

300

Each associate justice is permitted to have up to 4 of these assistants; usually they are recent top law school graduates

clerks

300

Crabs of the genus Uca get this name from the male's habit of holding one oversized claw like a violin

fiddler crab

300

The "winner" of the title event of this Shirley Jackson story is stoned to death

"The Lottery"

400

Cows described by this adjective have had their horns removed, not their opinions recorded

polled

400

He was Thomas Jefferson's Secretary of State

Madison

400

A lot more people got to know what the Supreme Court sounded like on December 11, 2000, when the oral argument in this case became the first one released for same-day broadcast

Bush v. Gore

400

A crab's front legs develop into claws called chelae, better known by this "ouchy" name

pincers (pinchers)

400

In 1830 he had 5 tales & sketches published in the Salem Gazette

Nathaniel Hawthorne

500

A snood is the fleshy appendage hanging above the beak of one of these birds

turkey

500

He served as Tennessee's first U.S. representative

Andrew Jackson

500

In 2013 the Court struck down key parts of this 1965 act that forces certain states to pre-clear election law changes

the Voting Rights Act

500

Familiar but lonely name for crabs of the family Paguridae that often appropriate empty snail shells

hermit crab

500

This 1882 story by Frank Stockton leaves its title question unanswered

"The Lady, or the Tiger?"