Esoteric "Knowledge" Pit

FILLED MILK

alright chucklefucks, time to learn something about milk, the supreme court, and american civil rights. ok, so what in the kentucky fried fuck is filled milk? and why is filled milk at the crux of every civil rights case since the 1930s? filled milk is a "dairy product" consisting of skim milk adulterated with non-milk oils and fats, and then evaporated. this vile substance was made for several reasons: 1. milk goes bad fast, therefore by evaporating the milk it can be readily transported across the nation. 2. butter is expensive (at the time) and lard is cheap (also at the time). remember, the inception of filled milk is during the gilded age, where consumption of product increases but price o f product MUST go down cause capitalism or something lmao. what companies would do is skim the milk to sell the expensive butter, and substitute something cheap in its place, like lard, hydrogenated cottonseed oil (crisco), palm kernel oil, or coconut oil. you can't drink this shit btw, it allegedly has a vile taste but is passable for milk in cooking recipies. anyway tldr this affront to God called "filled milk" eventually drew the ire of the federal government, who rightfully banned the interstate transport of this substance via the Filled Milk Act of 1923. this pissed off one of the big manufacturers of filled milk, carolene products company. ok now that the context is out of the way, carolene products company was doing some illegal shit like sell this product "milnut" (now milnot) across state lines, which was CLEARLY FUCKING ILLEGAL but these chucklefucks decided to challenge the federal government because of course they did. ok now the US government sues their lawbreaking asses in the legendary Supreme Court case, United States v. Carolene Products Company, 304 U.S. 144 (1938). the US government wins, court says carolene products co is dumb as shit for trying and tells them to fuck off and stop breaking the fuckin law, dipshits. now one justice (i forgot who) decides to add a footnote, the most important footnote in american history, and the baisis for american civil rights litigation, footnote 4. It is incredibly powerful as it defines strict scrutiny, meaning that some laws, especially those that interfere with the civil rights of Americans may be scrutinized to a much higher degree than loose scrutiny, which is basically taking the law for its word and telling the defendant to fuck off. this immediately shows up in Skinner v. Oklahoma (1942) where the government decides that forcibly sterilizing people is a bad thing. Then, the civil rights movement kicks off with the first of many cases: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) which should be familiar to most of you (tldr; government says school segregation is unlawful) and a string of other cases follow, most of the civil rights cases being them. though many other civil rights cases involve the right to privacy such as Griswold v. Connecticut, Loving v. Virgina, Lawrence v. Texas, and Obergefell v. Hodges, they all hinge on the strict scrutiny defined in footnote 4 of U.S. v. Carolene Products Co.The case continues to have a legacy, with the (2021-2022) court using strict scrutiny paired with a "historical comparison" to deliver an exceptional upset case law: Dobbs v. Jackson (2022) and NYSRPA v. Bruen (2022), one overturning Roe v. Wade and the other fucking NY's concealed carry permit law into the dirt. i would personally argue that this affront to God called filled milk is by far the most important thing to ever come out of the gilded age, so to celebrate civil rights, lets toast filled milk and Carolene Products Company for fucking around and finding out. God Bless America, and remember, you cannot drink filled milk straight from the can.