All nine of the sitting justices took part in the 1939 case of Coleman v. Miller, which concerned whether the Kansas legislature had ratified the pending Child Labor Amendment. One of the issues in the case was decided by a vote of 5-4, while another was resolved by a vote of 7-2. With respect to a third issue, however, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes reported that it presented “a question upon which the Court is equally divided and therefore the Court expresses no opinion upon that point.” Scholars understandably have been puzzled by how a decision in which a full Court participated could have been “equally divided” on an issue. Shortly after the decision was handed down, the Yale Law Journal published an anonymous Note entitled Sawing a Justice in Half, which remarked that the division “should astonish even a Yogi magician.” The perplexed author concluded by asking, “is it possible to saw a Justice vertically in half during a conference and have him walk away whole?” This brief article seeks to determine what happened in Coleman, and to pin down the identity of the missing justice.

中文翻译：

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科尔曼诉米勒案中缺失的正义

所有九位现任法官都参与了 1939 年科尔曼诉米勒案，该案涉及堪萨斯州立法机构是否批准了悬而未决的童工修正案。案件中的一个问题以 5-4 的投票结果决定，而另一个问题以 7-2 的投票结果解决。然而，关于第三个问题，首席大法官查尔斯·埃文斯·休斯 (Charles Evans Hughes) 报告说，它提出了“一个问题，法院对此意见分歧，因此法院对此不发表任何意见。” 可以理解，学者们对一个完整的法院参与的决定如何在一个问题上“平等划分”感到困惑，这是可以理解的。裁决下达后不久，《耶鲁法律杂志》发表了一篇题为《将正义一分为二》的匿名笔记，评论称该部门“即使是瑜伽魔术师也应该感到惊讶。” 困惑的作者最后问道：“是否有可能在会议期间将大法官垂直对半，然后让他整个人走开？” 这篇简短的文章旨在确定在科尔曼发生的事情，并确定失踪法官的身份。