Final Jeopardy: Supreme Court Decisions (2-18-25)
The Final Jeopardy question (2/18/2025) in the category “Supreme Court Decisions” was:
This landmark case was reported in the NY Times not on the front page but in “News of the Railroads”
2013 Kids Week winner Skyler Hornback, a chem. engineering Ph.D student orig. from Sonora, KY; 4x champ Margaret Shelton, a homemaker from Pittsburgh, PA; and 2022 College Championship winner Jaskaran Singh, a consultant from Plano, TX.
Round 1 Categories: On the Historic Top 40 – “Ism”s – That’s Not a Thing Anymore – Giving You the Creeps – Slinging Slang – Borderline
Skyler found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Borderline” under the $600 clue on the 17th pick of the round. He was in second place with $3,200, $400 less than Jaskaran’s lead. Skyler bet $1,500 and couldn’t think of a response so he was WRONG.
Now a tourist attraction, the demilitarized zone separating these 2 countries was officially abolished in 1976 show
Jaskaran finished in the lead with $5,600. Margaret was second with $2,800 and Skyler was last with $2,700. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: The ’80s: Who Said It? – Libraries – TV Sitcoms – Russian Literature – Earth Science – Triple “A”
Jaskaran found the first Daily Double in “Earth Science” under the $1,600 clue on the 20th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $21,600, $11,600 more than Margaret in second place. Jaskaran bet $1,000 and came up with magnetosphere. That was WRONG.
As its name suggests, this part of the atmosphere that begins about 50 miles up is rich in electrically charged particles show
Margaret found the last Daily Double in “Triple ‘A’” under the $2,000 clue with 6 clues left after it. She was in second place with $11,200, $9,800 less than Jaskaran’s lead. Margaret bet $5,000 and, forgetting the category, blurted out guru. That was WRONG.
From Sanskrit for “great”, it’s a person revered for wisdom & selflessness show
Jaskaran finished in the lead with a runaway $21,800. Skyler was second with $7,100 and Margaret was last with $6,200. All clues were shown.
Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS PLESSY V. FERGUSON?
Homer Plessy was a man who was 7/8ths white and 1/8th black. In 1892, he was chosen by the Committee of Citizens to challenge Louisiana’s “Separate Car Act” providing for separate railroad cars for black and whites.
Anticipating that The railroad company might not arrest Plessy, the Committee hired a private detective to do it so they could sue to overturn the “Separate Car Act”. Judge John Howard Ferguson ruled against Plessy in his case against the State of Louisiana. Plessy challenged Ferguson’s ruling all the way to the Supreme Court and ultimately lost. The decision was overturned with the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954.
Margaret had no response. She bet and lost her whole $6,200.
Skyler was going for Pullman v. United States but didn’t quite finish the last word. He lost $3,500 and finished with $3,600.
Jaskaran got it right. He didn’t bet a penny so he won the game with $21,000. Jaskaran Singh joins Matt Amodio in the semifinals.
2 triple stumpers from “ISM”s :
($400) It’s the art or sport of climbing high mountains & not necessarily the ones that gave it its name
($600) Sounds deadly, but it’s the belief that events in life are predetermined & people are powerless to change them
2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “CURRENT WORLD LEADERS”
In office from 2022, the president of this country has taken so many foreign trips a play on his name is “Ferdinand Magellan Jr.” show
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2/3 on DD, but missed FJ. Completely forgot about Plessy. I said Dred Scott.
I liked Jaskaran’s support for his Sikh community – “often seen, but, not often heard”. And, his play was just masterful.
Unlike last night, 3 strong players, and the best one clearly won. Good on him for getting FJ. I was stumped; I’d heard of Plessy but couldn’t remember its subject. I was torn between Brown vs Board of Ed and Dred Scott.
Good to see Margaret again. She’s a likeable flake but deceptively smart. Wasn’t she the one who came up with “regular” Virginia? They later made that a category.
Surprised Jaskaran boo-booed on that pretty easy DD. And the only one I got. Instinctively said North/South Korea for the DMZ. “1976” was a definite hint.
I did about average in the game, and I had a hunch that the FJ involved a race card during the 19th century. Well, even though the clues were obviously alluding to the railroads, I simply rolled the dice and went with the Dred Scott decision. No, I never heard of the Plessy V. Fergusson, but that certainly was a landmark case which will be noted.
All 3 DDs were missed resulted our tenth skunking of the season. I hope William Weyser will say darn those daily doubles to the contestants.
I did, although it didn’t matter in the end, because Jaskaran Singh made the game a runaway, and he was the only 1 to get FJ! right. Better luck tomorrow with the Daily Doubles.
You’ve been saying that since Hunter Appler failed to catch Pranjal Vachaspati and Buzzy Cohen for the lead.
Quite surprising that each one got a DD and they missed them all.
I thought it was great that Skyler was invited back. Here’s a link to his original game.
P.S. If there’s any mistakes in the recap, I’ll have to fix them later. I had to go to the doctor earlier and I need a nap!
Hope all went well and you feel rested soon