On Black’s first day on the court, October 4, 1937, Albert Levitt, a former U.S. assistant attorney general, rose and addressed Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes. He said he wanted to file a brief asking the Court to order Black to show cause why he should be allowed to take the seat of an Associate Justice. Hughes told Levitt to do so in writing, and Levitt then filed a pro se motion in the Supreme Court requesting leave to petition for an order requiring Black to show cause why he should be permitted to serve as an associate justice of the Supreme Court.
