Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category 19th Century Supreme Court Decisions) for Wednesday, October 20, 2021 (Season 38, Game 28):
The first “self-evident” truth in the Declaration of Independence was quoted & found not to apply to this plaintiff
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s contestants:
Anjolie Chidambaram, a financial writer from San Francisco, California![]() |
Jack Hodges, a hotel loyalty analyst from Bethesda, Maryland![]() |
Jonathan Fisher, an actor originally from Coral Gables, Florida (7-day total: $156,100)![]() |
Andy’s Pregame Thoughts: Jonathan is now at 7 wins after beating Matt Amodio last Monday. Will he make it to 8? He’ll need to make it past Anjolie and Jack.
On a slightly more personal note: From October 16-23, there will be a 168-hour charity live-streaming relay on Twitch to raise money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada; more information can be found at gamersvsms.ca. 1 in 385 Canadians live with MS. I’ll be doing my shift as part of the relay on Thursday, October 21 from 2:00 AM to 8:00 AM EDT on my own Twitch channel, twitch.tv/andythequizzer/.
PSA: The best way to keep COVID-19 at bay (and keep Jeopardy! producing new episodes) is for everybody to get their vaccinations as soon as they are able to. When wearing a mask, ensure that your mask covers both your nose and your mouth.
Are you going on the show and looking for information about how to bet in Final Jeopardy? Check out my new Betting Strategy 101 page!
---Advertisement---
(Content continues below)
Correct response: Who is Dred Scott?
More information about Final Jeopardy: (The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2021 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
Widely considered the worst decision in the entire history of the U.S. Supreme Court, Dred Scott was an African-American who had been enslaved in Missouri, but felt that because his owners had taken him into free Illinois and Wisconsin, that he should be considered free upon his return to Missouri. Roger B. Taney wrote an incredibly racist justification for his decision based on an outdated worldview in both denying Scott his freedom and striking down the Missouri Compromise as unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, after the case, Scott was transferred to new owners, who emancipated him in 1857. The decision also caused widespread economic panic over fears that slavery would be permitted in Western territories. Abraham Lincoln refused to issue a statement after Taney—who became a Confederate sympathizer after the onset of the Civil War—died in 1864.
We have many new offerings at The Jeopardy! Fan Online Store! Proceeds from the sale of the “Doctor Oz’s Fast-Acting Snake Oil Elixir” T-shirt are being donated to The Trevor Project:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Tonight’s results are below!
Scores going into Final:
Jonathan $27,200
Anjolie $18,800
Jack $2,600
Tonight’s results:
Jack $2,600 + $2,600 = $5,200 (Who is Scott?)
Anjolie $18,800 – $18,000 = $800 (Who is Madison?)
Jonathan $27,200 + $10,500 = $37,700 (Who is Dred Scott?) (8-day total: $193,800)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Jonathan $6,400
Anjolie $3,200
Jack $600
---Advertisement---
Opening break taken after: 15 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) BOATS & SHIPS $600 (clue #22)
Jonathan 6600 -1600 (Jack 400 Anjolie 3200)
2) MYTHOLOGY $1600 (clue #8)
Jonathan 13200 +3200 (Jack 2200 Anjolie 3200)
3) THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE $1200 (clue #22, $10000 left on board)
Anjolie 9200 +8000 (Jonathan 21600 Jack 1800)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 87
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 3 (0.11 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Jonathan $27,200 Coryat, 32 correct, 1 incorrect, 54.39% in first on buzzer (31/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Jack $2,600 Coryat, 7 correct, 2 incorrect, 15.79% in first on buzzer (9/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 0 rebound opportunities)
Anjolie $12,000 Coryat, 12 correct, 0 incorrect, 19.30% in first on buzzer (11/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $41,800
Lach Trash: $9,200 (on 8 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $3,000
Jonathan Fisher, career statistics:
211 correct, 23 incorrect
10/10 on rebound attempts (on 33 rebound opportunities)
44.59% in first on buzzer (202/453)
11/14 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $18,000)
5/8 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $21,175
Jack Hodges, career statistics:
8 correct, 2 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 0 rebound opportunities)
15.79% in first on buzzer (9/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $2,600
Anjolie Chidambaram, career statistics:
12 correct, 1 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
19.30% in first on buzzer (11/57)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $8,000)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $12,000
Jonathan Fisher, to win:
9 games: 72.663%
10: 52.799%
11: 38.365%
12: 27.877%
13: 20.256%
Avg. streak: 10.658 games.
Today’s interviews:
Anjolie sleeps with her eyes open.
Jack didn’t qualify for his high school quiz bowl team as a sophomore.
Jonathan is a huge fan of LEGO.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Jonathan’s choice to avoid all-out Daily Double hunting, like today, is going to leave him vulnerable to being defeated in spite of otherwise being dominant during the game.
Contestant photo credit: jeopardy.com
When commenting, please note that all comments on The Jeopardy! Fan must be in compliance with the Site Comment Policy.
If you are going to quote any information from this page or this website, attribution is required.
I know it’s random but seems like a few dark FJs lately. Nazi Germany, Dred Scott. But it’s J so those will be interlarded with kiddie lit.
Growing up in St. Louis, we would take field trips down to the old court house and learned about him and his case.
Really impressive work by Jonathan–running a tape day is an incredible feat that many super-champions never pull off. And he’s still going! That said, it really feels like Matt would be cruising through the 40s at this point. 🙁
Re: a possible ToC rematch, if Jeopardy continues its policy of not scheduling re-matches until the Finals, both the Brian-Zach and Matt-Jonathan rematches couldn’t happen. I suspect they break this rule for good television, though. Personally I’m more interested in Brian-Zach than Matt-Jonathan.
The way Matt got squeezed by two strong players last Monday makes me a little nervous for him in the ToC, but as others have pointed out, Jonathan and Jessica seemed to have fairly complementary bases of knowledge, so perhaps it was something of a perfect storm.
Matt, my best guess is all four are in different quarterfinals, and if they all qualify Brian-Zach play in a semifinal, while Matt and Jonathan play in separate semifinal rounds.
Now THAT’S how to bet on a Daily Double! Shame it didn’t work out 🙁
Why wouldn’t all contestants in a similar situation? If that’s their only chance of winning the game, why be conservative. The difference between coming in second or third is only $1,000. Chump change . . .
Jonathan is now an 8 time champ, something few have done. While 6 wins is a Super Champ and 10 is an Ultra Champ, are there any other designations?
“Greatest of All-Time”
Dred Scott case has been on my mind for years since high school so I had learned a lot about him in US history. With the 8th win, John seems to be well prepared for his next win despite the fact he had a very strong opponent in Anjolie. He has the playing style of Jennifer Quail and Mackenzie Jones since they all had 8 wins. This was a match that Jack couldn’t catch up to.
Tricky question because of ” life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness” liberty is second listed which would seem to apply here.
“We hold these truths to be self evident. That all men are created equal.” Then goes on with life liberty etc so created equal is first and certainly applies to the argument of the case.
I was confused as well and sad it wasn’t in the explanation, so thank you!
Huh. I saw the category and I said “Dred Scott”. This seems to me to be way too easy for a fJ question. I was stunned that someone missed it. (Yes, I guess it could be Marbury v. Madison, but that had nothing to do with liberty, Plessy v. Ferguson could also be on-point in that it created the principle of Separate but Equal, but that’s after the 14th amendment and its not as obvious to the public.)
She may have thought it was Scott, but guessed Madison cause she assumed Jonathon would guess Scott, and guessing the same thing is a guaranteed loss
I guess. But Madison was wrong on every level. The plaintiff was Marbury. A better “I will guess differently” answer would have been Plessy, which at least dealt with the evident truth that all men are created equal.
As Andy pointed out, history has (appropriately in my estimation) not been kind to Taney and the Dred Scott decision. But there are other awful decisions of the Supremes, some announced during the lifetimes of even the youngest among us. As has often been said, the Supreme Court is “right” because it is “final”, and not “final” because it is “right”.