Among my various eccentricities, I subscribe to the Green Bag, an entertaining journal of law (I read about equally for entertainment and for interesting knowledge) which occasionally produces extra gifts, such as Supreme Court justice bobbleheads, for its subscribers. If the Green Bag sends you a certificate, you might (they qualify to the hilt any possibility you might get anything other than the subscription) be able to go to George Mason University just outside Washington, D.C. and exchange it for some number of bobbleheads. (Or have a proxy do it, but that has its own problems.)

A few months ago the Green Bag sent me a certificate potentially good for bobbleheads. I live on the west coast, so how was I to redeem it? I’m not crazy enough to fly across the country just for bobbleheads (even Supreme Court bobbleheads!). But if I planned it right, I could combine a trip with one to visit family for Easter, economizing the number of long-distance flights I’d take doing both trips. It was enough justification for me to visit D.C. from April 15 to April 19.

I’m not much of a tourist, so I didn’t visit museums or do much traditional exploration in D.C. (I also planned to work most of Friday and Monday while visiting, a plan mostly-successfully executed from a couple Starbucks.) I caught up with a couple friends (Mozillians may remember Joey Minta of calendar, Thunderbird, and kill-rdf fame, now working at a D.C. law firm) and attempted to catch a game of ultimate on the National Mall that got foreclosed by rain. I also tried to sample area cuisine: Five Guys (NB: they’re in Sunnyvale now!), Founding Farmers, Potbellys (not especially local to D.C., but I’d never seen them before), and Momiji Restaurant (the Asian pear martini was quite tasty).

But most specially, I went to a sitting of the Supreme Court and watched two oral arguments. More on that over the next several days, starting with which cases to attend and when to arrive.

Mystery images!

A couple months ago various travels took me within a mile or two of the location where an important Supreme Court case concerning freedom of speech originated. Naturally, I took the opportunity to do a little side trip to see the place and take a few pictures:

The question

Which Supreme Court case was this? (Or, where were these pictures taken?) I’ll give readers a little time before I make a new post giving the answer, unless someone knows or manages to guess the answer.

A few hints

The first hint is barely a hint if you know much about me, but it seems worth mentioning for the benefit of readers who don’t. The second hint may be quite helpful if you’re familiar with well-known First Amendment cases and their holdings. If you’re not, I doubt it will be of much use. The third arguably trivializes the problem of answering the question — but only if you choose to use the business names in the picture while trying to figure out the answer.

• My transportation capabilities in the Bay Area are limited to foot, train, bus, and bike.
• The case in question had, and to an extent still has, special relevance in California.
• If the previous pictures aren’t enough, here’s a completely different view of another area at the same location.