As he left his room at the Hyatt in Washington, Levenson saw before him this jar of mustard on a discarded room service tray. He asked himself: “Would it be theft to take the little jar of unwanted (but still usable) mustard?” Having no time to research the weighty issue, he did what every lawyer would have done. He looked to his left, looked to his right, saw that no one was watching and pocketed the mustard.

Levenson took the mustard to the high court and argued the case with the jar in his left pants pocket. How appropriate that the court that gave us the likes of Justice Felix Frankfurter and Warren Burger finally had some mustard!

Yes, he won the case, by a 5-4 margin. Was it the justness of the cause? Was it the brilliant advocacy? Or was it the magical jar of mustard?

You can look it up. 483 U.S. 868 (1987).

After clicking the above link, use your browser Find function and search for "Griffin v. Wisconsin" (without the quotes).