Final Jeopardy: The Supreme Court in the 19th Century (12-4-25)
The Final Jeopardy question (12/4/2025) in the category “The Supreme Court in the 19th Century” was:
Citing the “language of the people whether sellers or consumers”, in 1893 the S.C. ruled on the botanical designation of this
New champ Ron Lalonde, a medical physicist from Pittsburgh, PA, won $15,201 yesterday. In Game 2, his challengers are: Andy Luo, a student success coach from Johns Creek, GA; and Marie D’Avignon, a VP of Operations from Durham, NC.
Round 1 Categories: The 21st Century – Which Cabinet Department? – The Films of Diane Keaton – On the Maine Land – Have a Seat – The Song of One Lonely Consonant
Andy found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “On the Maine Land” under the $800 clue on the 15th pick of the round. He was in last place with $2,000, $600 less than Ron’s lead. Andy bet it all and he was RIGHT.
John D. Rockefeller Jr. donated land & money to create this park, the first national park established east of the Mississippi show
Ron finished in the lead with $5,600. Andy was second with $5,000 and Marie was last with $4,400. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Starts With a Greek Letter – Hot Dam! – The Thread of the Story – Annual Events – Extinct Creatures – Different Artists, Same Hit Song
Andy found the first Daily Double in “The Thread of the Story” under the $1,600 clue on the 15th pick. He was in second place with $9,800 now, $3,800 less than Ron’s lead. Andy bet $4,000 and guessed Eliot at the last second. That was WRONG.
Her favorite of her own stories was “The Tailor of Gloucester” about some mice with mad needle skills show
Ron got the last Daily Double in “Starts With a Greek Letter” under the $1,600 clue, with 9 clues left after it. In the lead with $18,800, he had $13,000 more than Andy in second place. Ron bet $4,000 and he was RIGHT.
A fire-breather from Greek myth, it’s now a word for any mish-mosh of a creation show
Ron finished in the lead with a runaway $24,400. Andy was next with $5,400 and Marie was in third place with $5,200. All clues were shown.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right, and they all had the same wrong response! I don’t think that’s happened since May 5, 2025.
WHAT IS A TOMATO?
You might think it’s more likely to see a fight involving tomatoes in a food court rather than the U.S. Supreme Court, but an 1887 lawsuit over taxing tomatoes ended up before the high court in 1893. The Tariff Act of 1883 only taxed imported vegetables, not fruit. The Nix v. Hedden case sought to recover taxes paid under protest on imported tomatoes, insisting the tomatoes were fruit. Botanically speaking, that was true but they lost the case.
The Nix family appealed to the Supreme Court, resulting in a unanimous ruling that tomatoes are vegetables for trade and commerce purposes.
Marie thought it was tobacco. She lost $4,999 and finished with $201.
Andy also went with tobacco. He lost $5,001 and finished with $399.
Ron made it a tobacco trifecta. He lost $4,000 and won the game with $20,400. Ron’s 2-day total is $35,601.
2 triple stumpers from HOT DAM!:
($1600) Director Jean-Luc Godard was a worker on the Grande Dixence Dam & made a film about it, “Operation” this weighty material
($2000) The Norek Dam in this Asian country, the smallest of the -stans, was the world tallest dam until 2013 when China took the lead
2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “LANGUAGES”
Since it can make someone “Japanese laugh as heartily as a Dane”, Lillian Gish saw film as an aesthetic this, the name of a language show
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Most of the time people think tomato is a fruit and most other people think a tomato is a vegetable. In the episode Mr. Potato’s Fruit & Vegetable Quiz, Peppa Pig thinks it’s a vegetable and Suzy Sheep thinks it’s a fruit. You know how Peppa and Suzy are. They always argue a lot. Tomato has seeds. But in the 19th Century, the Port Authority of New York classified tomatoes as vegetables. Which were subject to a 10% import tax. Quoted by Emily Elephant’s brother Edmund which he calls himself as a clever clogs.
I think the first DD is wrong. The first National Park east of the Mississippi was Mackinac Island. It became a NP just 3 years after Yellowstone. It lost its status 20 years later and was turned over to the state of Michigan. From the category,it was obvious what they were after, but they should have said the oldest NP east of the Mississippi, not the first
Ron had a bit of a rough start, Marie shot out of the gate, Andy fought his way into the game, but suddenly, the thoroughbred in the pack shot to an insurmountable lead. I was hoping Andy would come up with that middle DD clue.
First DD almost a giveaway, as it had to be in Maine. I guessed the 2nd. Blanked on the 3rd but should not have. When the category was intro’d, I said “chimera” would be a good word starting with a Greek letter. And there it was…. Final was a mystery, I said orchids. Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto, let’s call the whole thing off.