title: Foie gras

text: The Judaic dietary law, Kashrut, forbade lard as a cooking medium, and butter, too, was proscribed as an alternative since Kashrut also prohibited mixing meat and dairy products. Jewish cuisine used olive oil in the Mediterranean and sesame oil in Babylonia, but neither cooking medium was readily available in Western and Central Europe, so poultry fat (known in Yiddish as "schmaltz"), which could be abundantly produced by overfeeding geese, was substituted in their stead. The delicate taste of the goose's liver was soon appreciated; Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof of Kassel wrote in 1562 that the Jews raise fat geese and particularly love their livers. Some Rabbis were concerned that eating forcibly overfed geese violated Jewish food restrictions. Some rabbis contended that it is not a forbidden food (treyf) as none of its limbs are damaged, and the geese did not feel any pain in their throats from the process. This matter remained a debated topic in Jewish dietary law until the Jewish taste for goose liver declined in the 19th century. Another kashrut matter, still a problem today, is that even properly slaughtered and inspected meat must be drained of blood before being considered fit to eat. Usually, salting achieves that; however, as the liver is regarded as "(almost) wholly blood", broiling is the only way of kashering. Properly broiling foie gras while preserving its delicate taste is difficult and, therefore, rarely practised. Even so, there are restaurants in Israel that offer grilled goose foie gras. Foie gras also resembles the Jewish food staple, chopped liver.


title: Foie gras

text: Appreciation of fattened goose liver spread to gastronomes outside the Jewish community, who could buy in the local Jewish ghetto of their cities. In 1570, Bartolomeo Scappi, chef de cuisine to Pope Pius V, published his cookbook "Opera", wherein he writes that "the liver of [a] domestic goose raised by the Jews is of extreme size and weighs [between] two and three pounds". In 1581, Marx Rumpolt of Mainz, chef to several German nobles, published the massive cookbook "Ein Neu Kochbuch", describing that the Jews of Bohemia produced livers weighing more than three pounds; he lists recipes for it—including one for goose liver mousse. János Keszei, chef to the court of Michael Apafi, the prince of Transylvania, included foie gras recipes in his 1680 cookbook "A New Book About Cooking", instructing cooks to "envelop the goose liver in a calf's thin skin, bake it and prepare [a] green or [a] brown sauce to accompany it. I used goose liver fattened by Bohemian Jews; its weight was more than three pounds. You may also prepare a mush of it."


title: Foie gras

text: In the 21st century, France is the largest producer and consumer of foie gras, though it is produced and consumed in several other countries worldwide, particularly in some other European nations, the United States, and China. Approximately 30,000 people work in the French foie gras industry, with 90% of them residing in the Périgord (Dordogne), Aquitaine in the southwest, and Alsace in the east. The European Union recognizes the foie gras produced according to traditional farming methods ("label rouge") in southwestern France with a protected geographical indication.


title: Foie gras

text: Hungary is the world's second-largest foie gras ("libamáj") producer and the largest exporter. France is the principal market for Hungarian foie gras – mainly exported raw. Approximately 30,000 Hungarian goose farmers are dependent on the foie gras industry. French food companies spice, process, and cook the foie gras so it may be sold as a French product in its domestic and export markets.


title: Foie gras

text: In 2005, France produced 18,450 tonnes of foie gras (78.5% of the world's estimated total production of 23,500 tonnes), of which 96% was duck liver and 4% goose liver. Total French consumption of foie gras this year was 19,000 tonnes. In 2005, Hungary, the world's second-largest foie gras producer, exported 1,920 tonnes, and Bulgaria produced 1,500 tons of foie gras.


title: Foie gras

text: The demand for foie gras in the Far East is such that China has become a sizeable producer. Madagascar is a small but rapidly growing producer of high-quality foie gras.


title: Foie gras

text: In 2011 in Bulgaria (which started production in 1960), 5 million mule ducks were raised for foie gras on 800 farms, making Bulgaria the second-largest European producer.


title: Foie gras

text: In 2012, France produced approximately 19,000 tonnes of foie gras, representing 75% of the world's production in that year. This required the force-feeding of around 38 million ducks and geese. World production in 2015 is estimated as 27,000 tonnes.


title: Foie gras

text: In 2014, the whole of the EU produced approximately 25,000 tonnes of foie gras – 23,000 tonnes of duck foie gras and 2,000 tonnes of goose foie gras. The same year, France was producing 72% of world foie gras production, of which 97% was from ducks.


title: Foie gras

text: In 2015, it was reported that in France, sales of foie gras may be waning, and an OpinionWay poll found that 47% of the French population supported a ban on force-feeding.


title: Foie gras

text: In 2016, it was reported that France produces an estimated 75% of the world's foie gras and southwestern France produces approximately 70% of that total. In 2016, it could retail for upwards of $65 a pound.


title: Foie gras

text: In late 2015, there were several outbreaks of the highly contagious H5N1 bird flu in France, which escalated in 2016. This led to Algeria, China, Egypt, Japan, Morocco, South Korea, Thailand and Tunisia banning French poultry exports, including foie gras, and France to initiate increased bio-security protocols which will cost an estimated 220 million euros. One of these measures was the halting of production in southwestern France from early April 2016 for an anticipated period of three months to reduce the spread of the virus. Exports of foie gras from France are expected to decrease from 4,560 tonnes in 2015 to 3,160 in 2016.


title: Foie gras

text: The largest producer in the United States is Hudson Valley Foie Gras, which uses approximately 350,000 ducks annually.


title: Foie gras

text: Additionally, there is , (either must contain 50% or more foie gras), (must contain 75% or more foie gras), and other preparations (no legal obligation established).


title: Foie gras

text: Fully cooked preparations are generally sold in either glass containers or metal cans for long-term preservation. Whole, fresh foie gras is usually unavailable in France outside Christmas, except in some producers' markets in the producing regions. Frozen whole foie gras sometimes is sold in French supermarkets.


title: Foie gras

text: Whole foie gras is readily available from gourmet retailers in Canada, the United States, Hungary, Argentina and regions with a sizeable market for the product. In the US, raw foie gras is classified as Grade A, B or C. Grade A is typically the highest in fat and especially suited for low-temperature preparation because the veins are relatively few and the resulting terrine will be more aesthetically appealing because it displays little blood. Grade B is accepted for higher temperature preparation because the higher proportion of protein gives the liver more structure after being seared. Grade C livers are generally reserved for making sauces as well as other preparations where a higher proportion of blood-filled veins will not impair the appearance of the dish.


title: Foie gras

text: Traditionally, foie gras was produced from special breeds of geese. However, by 2004, geese accounted for less than 10% of the total global foie gras production and by 2014 only 5% of total French production. Goose breeds used in modern foie gras production are primarily the grey Landes goose ("Anser anser") and the Toulouse goose.


title: Foie gras

text: In 2016, Hungary was producing 80% of the world's goose foie gras; however, production rates are likely to drop in 2017 due to outbreaks of bird flu.


title: Foie gras

text: In 2014, ducks accounted for 95% of foie gras production. The breeds primarily used are the Muscovy duck ("Cairina moschata") (also called the Barbary duck) and the hybrid cross of a male Muscovy duck and a female Pekin duck ("Anas platyrhynchos domestica") called the Mulard duck. This hybrid is sterile and is, therefore, sometimes referred to as a "mule" duck. Mulards are estimated to account for about 35% of all foie gras consumed in the US. About 95% of duck foie gras production from France comes from force-fed Mulards and the remaining 5% from the Muscovy duck.


title: Foie gras

text: After hatching, the Mulard ducklings are sexed. Males put on more weight than females, so the females are slaughtered.


title: Foie gras

text: The basis of foie gras production is the ability that some waterfowl have to expand their esophagus and to gain weight, particularly in the liver, in preparation for migration. Wild geese may consume 300 grams of protein and another 800 grams of grasses per day. Farmed geese allowed to graze on carrots adapt to eating 100 grams of protein but may consume up to 2500 grams of carrots per day. The increasing amount of feed given before force-feeding and during the force-feeding itself cause the expansion of the lower part of the esophagus.


title: Foie gras

text: The next production phase, which the French call or , or "completion of fattening", involves forced daily ingestion of controlled amounts of feed for 12 to 15 days with ducks and 15 to 18 days with geese. During this phase, ducks are usually fed twice daily, while geese are fed up to three times daily. To facilitate the handling of ducks during gavage, these birds are typically housed throughout this phase in individual cages or small group pens.


title: Foie gras

text: Typical foie gras production involves force-feeding birds more food than they would eat in the wild, and much more than they would voluntarily eat domestically.


title: Foie gras

text: In modern production, the bird is typically fed a controlled amount of feed, depending on the stage of the fattening process, the bird's weight, and the amount of feed the bird last ingested. At the start of production, a bird might be fed a dry weight of of food per day and up to (in dry weight) by the end of the process. The actual amount of food force-fed is much greater because the birds are fed a mash with a composition of about 53% dry and 47% liquid (by weight). This is the equivalent of around 1,900 grams per day in total mass.


title: Foie gras

text: The feed is administered using a funnel fitted with a long tube (20–30 cm long), which forces the feed into the bird's esophagus. If an auger is used, the feeding takes about 45 to 60 seconds, however, modern systems usually use a tube fed by a pneumatic pump with an operation time of 2 to 3 seconds per duck. During feeding, efforts are made to avoid damaging the bird's esophagus, which could cause injury or death, although researchers have found evidence of inflammation of the walls of the proventriculus after the first session of force-feeding. There is also an indication of inflammation of the esophagus in the later stages of fattening. Several studies have also demonstrated that mortality rates can be significantly elevated during the gavage period.


title: Foie gras

text: The feed, usually corn boiled with fat (to facilitate ingestion), deposits large amounts of fat in the liver, thereby producing the buttery consistency sought by some gastronomes.


title: Foie gras

text: Ducks reared for foie gras are typically slaughtered at 100 days of age, and geese at 112 days. The bird's liver is 6 to 10 times its ordinary size this time. Storage of fat in the liver produces steatosis of the liver cells.


title: Foie gras

text: Alternative methods can produce fattened liver without gavage, and this is often referred to either as "fatty goose liver" or as foie gras (outside France), though it does not conform to the French legal definition. This method involves timing the slaughter to coincide with the winter migration when livers are naturally fattened.


title: Foie gras

text: The winner of the Coup de Coeur award at the Salon International d'Alimentation, SIAL 2006, Patería de Sousa produces fattened livers without force-feeding. This has only recently been produced commercially and is a very small fraction of the market.


title: Foie gras

text: Producers outside France do not always force-feed birds to produce fattened livers considered to be foie gras, instead allowing them to eat freely, termed "ad libitum". Interest in alternative production methods has grown recently due to ethical concerns in gavage-based foie gras production. Such livers are alternatively termed fatty goose liver, ethical foie gras, or humane foie gras. The British supermarket chain Waitrose also provides a version of ethical foie gras which it calls (and has been trademarked) "faux gras". This is not to be confused with the American product by the same name, produced by Regal Vegan, which has the US trademark for "faux gras", and is actually a vegan, nut-based spread.


title: Foie gras

text: The term "ethical foie gras" or "humane foie gras" is also used for gavage-based foie gras production that is more concerned with the animal's welfare (using rubber hoses rather than steel pipes for feeding). Others have expressed skepticism at these claims of humane treatment, as earlier attempts to produce fattened livers without gavage have not produced satisfactory results.


title: Foie gras

text: A more humane version of foie gras was pioneered in the Spanish region of Extremadura, whereby the bird is tricked into preparing for migration rather than force-fed.


title: Foie gras

text: More radical approaches have been studied. A duck or goose with a ventromedian hypothalamic (VMH) lesion will tend not to feel satiated after eating and will therefore eat more than a non-lesioned animal. By producing such lesions surgically, it is possible to increase the bird's food consumption when permitted to eat "ad libitum" by a factor of more than two.


title: Foie gras

text: Currently, one of the few producers in the world of patented and certified goose- and duck livers without force-feeding but up to the same standards as the traditional foie gras is the German company Foie Royale. The products of Foie Royale are being used by several Michelin star chefs throughout the world. Foie Royale developed a process together with the German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL) to get the same result as the traditional Foie Gras, but without the force-feeding.


title: Foie gras

text: Human obesity and microbiome studies led French researchers at a startup company called Aviwell to use probiotic preparations to produce fatty livers in geese over six months without forced feeding.


title: Foie gras

text: Generally, French preparations of foie gras are made over low heat, as fat melts faster from the traditional goose foie gras than the duck foie gras produced in most other parts of the world. American and other New World preparations, typically employing duck foie gras, have more recipes and dish preparations for serving foie gras hot rather than cool or cold.


title: Foie gras

text: In Hungary, goose foie gras is traditionally fried in goose fat, which is then poured over the foie gras and left to cool; it is also eaten warm, after being fried or roasted, with some chefs smoking the foie gras over a cherry wood fire.


title: Foie gras

text: In other parts of the world, foie gras is served in dishes such as foie gras sushi rolls, in various forms of pasta or alongside steak tartare or atop a steak as a garnish.


title: Foie gras

text: Traditional low-heat cooking methods result in terrines, "pâtés", parfaits, foams and mousses of foie gras, often flavored with truffle, mushrooms or brandy such as cognac or armagnac. These slow-cooked forms of "foie gras" are cooled and served at or below room temperature.


title: Foie gras

text: In a very traditional form of terrine, "au torchon" ("in a towel"), a whole lobe of foie is molded, wrapped in a towel and slow-cooked in a "bain-marie". For added flavor (from the Maillard reaction), the liver may be seared briefly over a fire of grape vine clippings ("sarments") before slow-cooking in a bain-marie; afterwards, it is pressed and served cold, in slices.


title: Foie gras

text: A pastry containing fatty goose liver and other ingredients is known as the "Strasburg pie" since Strasbourg was a major producer of foie gras.


title: Foie gras

text: The Strasburg pie is mentioned in William Makepeace Thackeray's novel "Vanity Fair" as being popular with the diplomatic corps.


title: Foie gras

text: T.S. Eliot's poem "The Ad-Dressing of Cats", part of "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" and also the last song in its musical adaptation "Cats", contains the line "And you might now and then supply/Some caviar or Strasbourg pie".


title: Foie gras

text: Capt. Aubrey and Dr. Maturin enjoy a "Strasburg pie" in Patrick O'Brian's 1988 Napoleonic sea adventure "The Letter of Marque."


title: Foie gras

text: Given the increased internationalization of cuisines and food supply, "foie gras" is increasingly found in hot preparations in the United States, France, and elsewhere. Duck foie gras (""foie gras de canard"") has a slightly lower fat content and is generally more suitable in texture to cooking at high temperatures than goose foie gras (""foie gras d'oie""), but chefs have been able to cook goose "foie gras" employing similar techniques developed for duck, albeit with more care.


title: Foie gras

text: Raw foie gras can be roasted, sauteed, pan-seared ("poêlé"), or (with care and attention) grilled. As foie gras has high-fat content, contact with heat needs to be brief and, therefore, at a high temperature, lest it burns or melts. Optimal structural integrity for searing requires the foie gras to be cut to a thickness between 15 and 25 mm (½ – 1 inch), resulting in a rare, uncooked center. Some chefs prefer not to devein the foie gras, as the veins can help preserve the integrity of the fatty liver. It is increasingly common to sear the "foie gras" on one side only, leaving the other side uncooked. Practitioners of molecular gastronomy such as Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck restaurant first flash-freeze foie gras in liquid nitrogen as part of the preparation process.


title: Foie gras

text: Hot foie gras requires minimal spices, typically black pepper, paprika (in Hungary) and salt. Chefs have used fleur de sel as a gourmet seasoning for hot foie gras to add an "important textural accent" with its crunch.


title: Foie gras

text: Foie gras is regarded as a gourmet luxury dish. In France, it is mainly consumed on special occasions, such as Christmas or New Year's Eve "réveillon" dinners, though the recent increased availability of foie gras has made it a less exceptional dish. In some areas of France, "foie gras" is eaten year-round.


title: Foie gras

text: Duck foie gras is the slightly cheaper and, since a change of production methods in the 1950s to battery, by far the most common kind, particularly in the US. The taste of duck foie gras is often referred to as musky with a subtle bitterness. Goose foie gras is noted as less gamey and smoother, with a more delicate flavour.


title: Foie gras

text: Gavage-based foie gras production is controversial due to the animal welfare consequences of the force-feeding procedure, intensive housing and husbandry, an enlarged liver and the potential for being detrimental to human health. Some countries find foie gras to be "morally objectionable". One EU committee report noted that up to 1998, there was only a small number of scientific studies on the welfare of birds used for foie gras production; however, the Committee found sufficient evidence to conclude that "force-feeding, as currently practised, is detrimental to the welfare of the birds". The industry repeatedly faces accusations of torture and cruelty.


title: Foie gras

text: The production of foie gras occurs on the argument that migrating wildfowl seasonally eat such that their liver naturally enlarges. However, the bird used predominantly in foie gras production is a hybrid of a male Muscovy duck and a female Pekin duck. It has been noted that the Muscovy duck is non-migratory, and both the Pekin and the mulard hybrid cannot fly. Domestic ducks (including the Pekin) are derived from the mallard duck, which is sometimes migratory and sometimes not. Therefore, although the domestic goose might be adapted to store food before migration, it is less likely that the Mulard hybrid duck has the same potential.


title: Foie gras

text: Geese and ducks show avoidance behaviour (indicating aversion) toward the person who feeds them and the feeding procedure. Although an EU committee in 1998 reported seeing this aversion, they noted that at the time, there was no "conclusive" scientific evidence on the aversive nature of force-feeding. The AVMA (Animal Welfare Division) when considering foie gras production stated "The relatively new Mulard breed used in foie gras production seems to be more prone than its parent breeds to fear of people".


title: Foie gras

text: An EU committee in 1998 reported that there was usually clear evidence of tissue damage in the esophagus of birds which had been gavage fed, although one 1972 study cited by the report observed no alteration of the esophageal tissue. More recent scientific studies have shown that the esophagus of birds can be injured or inflamed by gavage feeding.


title: Foie gras

text: After measuring a range of physiological parameters in male Mulard ducks, it was concluded in one study that the acute stress caused by force-feeding is similar at the beginning and end of the commercial production of foie gras. A similar study on Muscovy ducks found that gavage feeding was related to an increase in panting behaviour and serum corticosterone levels, indicating increased stress attributable to this feeding method.


title: Foie gras

text: In France, at the end of 2015, individual cages were prohibited to improve animal welfare. They were to be replaced by cages housing 4 to 5 birds.


title: Foie gras

text: During the force-feeding period, the birds are kept in individual cages with wire or plastic mesh floors or sometimes in small groups on slatted floors. Individual caging restricts movements and behaviours by preventing the birds from standing erect, turning around, or flapping their wings. Birds cannot carry out other natural waterfowl behaviours, such as bathing and swimming. Ducks and geese are social animals, and individual cages prevent such interactions.


title: Foie gras

text: During the force-feeding period, when the birds are not being fed, they are sometimes kept in near-darkness; this prevents normal investigatory behaviour and results in poor welfare.


title: Foie gras

text: Lesions can occur on the sternum of the birds due to necrosis of the skin. This is observed more frequently in birds reared in cages rather than on the floor. The prevalence is higher in Mulard ducks (40–70%) compared to under 6% in Muscovy ducks. This is due to the larger pectoralis profundus major and minor muscles in Muscovy ducks compared to Mulards. The relatively new Mulard breed used in foie gras production seems more prone to developing lesions in the area of the sternum when kept in small cages and to bone breakage during transport and slaughter.


title: Foie gras

text: Where ducks are fattened in group pens, it has been suggested that the increased effort required to capture and restrain ducks in pens might cause them to experience more stress during force-feeding. Injuries and fatalities during transport and slaughter occur in all types of poultry production; fattened ducks are more susceptible to conditions such as heat stress.


title: Foie gras

text: Foie gras production results in the bird's liver being swollen. In some ducks, liver size changes seasonally, increasing by as much as 30% to 50%, with more pronounced changes in females. However, foie gras production enlarges the livers ten times (or 1,000%) their normal size. This impairs liver function due to the obstruction of blood flow and expands the abdomen, making it difficult for the birds to breathe. Death occurs if the force-feeding is continued.


title: Foie gras

text: The mortality rate in force-fed birds varies from 2% to 4%, compared with approximately 0.2% in age-matched, non-force-fed drakes. Mortality rates do not differ between the force-feeding period and the previous rearing phase, with both being approximately 2.5%.


title: Foie gras

text: The controversial nature of foie gras production was identified in a paper that juxtaposed the views of "foie gras production as the apotheosis of murderous meat production, and those who consider it to be a co-production between humans and animals".


title: Foie gras

text: Animal rights and welfare advocates such as Animal Equality, PETA, Viva!, and the Humane Society of the United States contend that foie gras production methods, and force-feeding in particular, constitute cruel treatment of animals.


title: Foie gras

text: An Ipsos MORI poll found that 63% of the UK population would like to see a complete ban on the sale of foie gras in the UK.


title: Foie gras

text: In 2011 and 2012, Animal Equality conducted investigations inside four foie gras farms in France and five in Spain, exposing the cruelty of force-feeding. The footage collected reveals ducks covered in blood with broken and torn beaks, birds kept in small metal cages with no room to turn around, and ducks and geese desperately struggling to avoid force-feeding.


title: Foie gras

text: In April–May 2013, an investigator from Mercy for Animals recorded an undercover video at Hudson Valley Foie Gras farm in New York state. The footage showed workers forcefully pushing tubes down ducks' throats. One worker said of the force-feeding process: "Sometimes the duck doesn't get up, and it dies. There have been times that 20 ducks were killed." Hudson Valley operations manager Marcus Henley replied that the farm's mortality statistics are not above average for the poultry industry. Because Hudson Valley provides foie gras to Amazon.com, Mercy for Animals began a campaign urging Amazon to stop selling foie gras, a move that has already been made by Costco, Safeway, and Target.


title: Foie gras

text: In November 2013, the "Daily Mirror" published a report based on the video they obtained depicting cruelty towards ducks in a farm owned by French firm Ernest Soulard, which is a supplier to celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay's restaurants. The restaurant chain suspended purchasing from the supplier following the exposé.


title: Foie gras

text: The process of force-feeding can make animals sick by stressing the liver. If the stress is prolonged, excess protein may build up and clump together as amyloids, consumption of which has been found to induce amyloidosis in laboratory mice. It has been hypothesized this may be a route of transmission in humans too, and so be a risk for people with inflammatory complaints such as rheumatoid arthritis.


title: Foie gras

text: Several countries and regions have laws against force-feeding or the sale or importation of foie gras; even where it is legal, some retailers have ceased selling it.


title: Foie gras

text: In 2017, foie gras production was banned in Brussels, a largely symbolic measure because of the small number of producers within the city limits. Belgium is one of several countries that continues to produce foie gras legally.


title: Foie gras

text: In November 2022, the Buckingham Palace household wrote to the Peta campaign group that foie gras was not bought or served in royal residences. "There will be no foie gras served in royal residences", a letter from Buckingham Palace to animal rights campaigners confirmed.


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: The Fate of the Furious (alternatively known as F8 and titled on-screen as Fast & Furious 8 internationally) is a 2017 American action film directed by F. Gary Gray and written by Chris Morgan. It is the sequel to "Furious 7" (2015) and the eighth installment in the "Fast & Furious" franchise. The film stars Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Scott Eastwood, Nathalie Emmanuel, Elsa Pataky, Kurt Russell, and Charlize Theron. In the film, Dominic Toretto has settled down with his wife Letty Ortiz, until cyberterrorist Cipher coerces him into working for her and turns him against his team, forcing them to find Dom and take down Cipher.


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: The eighth installment was planned since 2014, and plot details were first announced in March 2015 when Diesel appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and announced that the film would be set in New York City. Preparations for the film began immediately after the release of "Furious 7", with Diesel, Morgan, and producer Neal H. Moritz re-signing. After setting an initial release date in that same month, casting took place between April and June. In October, Gray was announced to direct the film in the place of James Wan, who had directed the previous installment.


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: Principal photography began in March 2016 in locations such as Mývatn, Havana, Atlanta, Cleveland, and New York City, continuing the franchise's tradition of filming around the world. With an estimated production budget of up to $270 million, it is one of the most expensive films ever made. The film is the first film in the series since "" not to star Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner, following Walker's death in November 2013.


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: "The Fate of the Furious" premiered in Berlin on April 4, 2017 and was theatrically released in conventional and IMAX theaters in the United States on April 14 by Universal Pictures. Critics praised the performances and action sequences. However, the main criticism was the story, Theron's character, self-referential humor and runtime, and others deemed the film unnecessary in the wake of Walker's tribute in "Furious 7". The film was a box office success, grossing over $1.2 billion worldwide, making it the nineteenth film (and the second in the franchise, after "Furious 7") to gross over $1 billion, the third-highest-grossing film of 2017, and the eleventh highest-grossing film of all time at the time. It also grossed $541.9 million worldwide during its opening weekend, which made it the highest-grossing worldwide opening of all time until the release of "" (2018). The sequel, "F9", was released internationally in May 2021 and released in the United States in June 2021.


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: Dominic "Dom" Toretto and Letty Ortiz are on their honeymoon in Havana when Dom's cousin Fernando gets in trouble owing money to local racer Raldo. Sensing Raldo is a loan shark, Dom challenges Raldo to a race, pitting Fernando's 1949 Chevrolet Fleetline against Raldo's 1956 Ford Fairlane Crown Victoria, and wagering his own 1961 Chevrolet Impala. After narrowly winning the race, Dom allows Raldo to keep his car, saying his respect is enough and leaves his cousin with his own car. The next day, an elusive woman named Cipher coerces Dom into working for her by showing him something on her phone. Shortly afterward, Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) agent Luke Hobbs recruits Dom and his team, comprising Letty, Roman Pearce, Tej Parker, and Ramsey, to help him retrieve an EMP device from a military outpost in Berlin. During the getaway, Dom forces Hobbs off the road and steals the device for Cipher, who is a cyberterrorist.


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: Hobbs gets arrested and locked up in the same high-security prison which holds Deckard Shaw. After Hobbs and Shaw both escape the prison, intelligence operative Mr. Nobody and his protégé Eric Reisner recruit them to help the team find Dom and capture Cipher. Deckard reveals that Cipher had hired his brother Owen Shaw to steal the Nightshade device and Mose Jakande to steal God's Eye, Ramsey's software program. The team tracks Dom and Cipher to their own location, moments before the two attack the base, injure the team and steal God's Eye. When Dom shows frustration with Cipher, she shows him his ex-lover and DSS agent Elena Neves, and their son, of whose existence Dom was unaware, having kidnapped both to secure his loyalty. She sends Dom to retrieve a nuclear football held by the Russian Minister of Defense in New York City.


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: With the help of Raldo, Dom briefly evades Cipher, and persuades Deckard and Owen's mother, Magdalene, to help him. Cipher hacks into the electronics systems of many cars, remotely controlling them via auto drive, causing them to blockade the convoy so that Dom can take the football. The team intercepts Dom in their cars, but Dom escapes and seemingly kills Deckard. Letty catches up to Dom and steals the football, but is nearly killed by Cipher's enforcer, Connor Rhodes, before Dom stops him and forces the football from Letty. In retaliation, Cipher has Rhodes execute Elena in front of Dom, threatening his son next. Dom infiltrates a military separatist base in Russia to use the EMP device to disable security and a nuclear submarine, enabling Cipher to hijack it and attempt to use its arsenal to trigger a nuclear war. They are intercepted by the team, who shut down the submarine's nuclear weapons and drive toward the gates that would prevent the sub from leaving to sea, while being pursued by separatists.


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: Meanwhile, Deckard, who faked his death with the help of Magdalene, teams up with Owen and infiltrates Cipher's plane to rescue Dom's son. Once Deckard reports that the child is safe, Dom turns on Cipher and kills Rhodes, before rejoining his team. Outraged, Cipher fires an infrared homing missile at Dom's Charger, but he breaks away from his team and lures the missile to the trailing submarine. The team forms a vehicular blockade and shields Dom from the ensuing explosion as the submarine is destroyed. Deckard reaches the front of the plane and confronts Cipher, who escapes by parachute. Mr. Nobody and his protégé visit Dom and his team in New York City to report that Cipher is still at large. Hobbs has his record cleared and is offered his DSS job back, but he declines and chooses to spend more time with his daughter. Deckard delivers Dom his son, putting his differences aside with Dom and Hobbs. Dom names his son Brian and celebrates with his friends.


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: Tego Calderón and Don Omar reprise their respective roles as Tego Leo and Rico Santos, former members of Dom's team, from "Los Bandoleros" (2009), "Fast & Furious" (2009) and "Fast Five" (2011). Patrick St. Esprit appears as DS Allen. Luke Evans reprises his role from "Fast & Furious 6" (2013) and "Furious 7" (2015) as Owen Shaw, Deckard's younger brother and a former Special Air Service (SAS) soldier who formerly opposed Dom's team in Europe, and who helps his brother in rescuing Dom's son. Helen Mirren makes an uncredited cameo appearance as Magdalene Shaw, the mother of Deckard and Owen Shaw. Celestino Cornielle portrays Raldo, a street racer whose respect Dom earns.


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: In November 2014, Universal Pictures chairwoman Donna Langley told "The Hollywood Reporter" that there would be at least three more films in the franchise after "Furious 7". In April 2015, Vin Diesel stated that the possible sequel that "Paul Walker used to say that [an eighth film] was guaranteed. And in some ways, when your brother guarantees something, you sometimes feel like you have to make sure it comes to pass."


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: Diesel further hinted at an eighth film on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" when he stated that Kurt Russell's character would span multiple films. He also stated that the next film would take place in New York City. Chris Morgan returned to write his sixth script in the franchise, while Neal H. Moritz returned to produce. Moritz later stated, "[The story] is going to have to be something enticing for all of us. It has to be as good as or better [than "Furious 7"]".


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: At the 2015 CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Diesel announced the film for an April 14, 2017 release date. In August, at the 2015 Teen Choice Awards (where "Furious 7" received the award for Choice Movie – Action and Walker received the award for Choice Movie Actor – Action), Diesel gave the film the initial title "Fast 8". In September, Diesel stated that the script had almost been completed, and expressed interest in Rob Cohen, who directed the first film, to direct the eighth installment. In October, Diesel announced on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" that "Straight Outta Compton" director F. Gary Gray would direct the film.


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: In July, Moritz said that Walker's character, Brian O'Conner, would not appear in the film, following the use of CGI in the previous film after Walker died in a single-vehicle accident in November 2013, with Moritz stating that his character had "moved on". It had previously been reported that Paul's younger brother, Cody Walker, would either join the cast in a new role, or replace his older brother in the role of O'Conner; however, it was later announced that the character will not return to the franchise. Moritz also said that the film would shift the focus of the franchise from a series of heist films to a spy caper, following a similar change in focus from street racing in "Fast Five" (2011). In December 2016, the film was retitled "The Fate of the Furious".


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: Diesel, Russell, and Michelle Rodriguez were the first to confirm their involvement in the film, and Tyrese Gibson and Chris Bridges both confirmed their return soon after. Lucas Black had signed on to reprise his role from "" (2006) as Sean Boswell for "Furious 7" and two more installments in September 2013. In May 2015, Dwayne Johnson confirmed his involvement in the film, additionally hinting at a possible spin-off film involving his character, Luke Hobbs. Jason Statham also confirmed his return that same month. In April 2016, Charlize Theron and Kristofer Hivju were confirmed as additions to the cast, in villainous roles, while Scott Eastwood also joined the film as a law enforcement agent. In May, Nathalie Emmanuel was confirmed to reprise her role as Ramsey in the film. In June, Helen Mirren announced in an interview with "Elle" that she would appear in the film. During an interview with Chris Mannix in July, Lucas Black confirmed he would not appear in the eighth installment, due to scheduling conflicts with "".


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: In keeping with the franchise's penchant for filming in "exotic" locations, such as Abu Dhabi and Rio de Janeiro, in January 2016 it was announced that Universal was seeking approval from the United States and Cuban governments to shoot part of the film in Cuba. Principal photography began on March 14, in Mývatn, in Iceland, where strong winds sent a plastic iceberg prop flying into a paddock. The prop struck two horses: one was wounded and the other mortally injured; it was later euthanized. In late April, filming began in Cuba's capital city, Havana. In May, filming also took place in Cleveland. Franchise cinematographer Stephen F. Windon returned for the eighth instalment. Filming also took place in Atlanta and New York City.


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: Brian Tyler, who scored the third, fourth, fifth, and seventh installments, was tapped to compose the film score for the eighth picture. A soundtrack album by Atlantic Records was released on April 14, 2017, coinciding with the film's US theatrical release. The film's score album was released on April 28, by Back Lot Music.


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: "The Fate of the Furious" had its world premiere in Berlin on April 4, 2017. The film was theatrically released in the United States on April 14. The film was released in 1,074 IMAX screens around the world, making it the widest opening in IMAX history.


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: "The Fate of the Furious" was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD on July 11, 2017 by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: "The Fate of the Furious" grossed $226 million in the United States and Canada and $1.010 billion in other territories for a worldwide total of $1.236 billion, against a production budget of $250 million. The film was released in 64 territories worldwide, including almost all major markets (minus Japan), starting from April 12, 2017, and was projected to earn anywhere between $375–440 million in its five-day opening weekend. By the end of the weekend, it ended up earning $539.9 million from nearly 23,000 screens, way above initial projections, to score the biggest global opening in cinematic history until it was surpassed by "" (2018). It also marked the third time that a film earned over $500 million in a single weekend, after "" (2015) ($529 million) and "Jurassic World" (2015) ($525.5 million). On April 30, 2017, the film crossed the $1 billion mark, becoming the second film in the franchise to do so, after Furious 7. In IMAX, the film made $31.1 million from 1,079 screens to record the biggest IMAX April debut and the fourth-biggest overall at the time.


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: Like several of its predecessors, "The Fate of the Furious" was released in the United States and Canada in the month of April, and like its immediate predecessor, occupied the lucrative Easter week holiday period slot, where it was expected to open with $100–125 million. It received the widest pre-summer release ever, at an estimated 4,304 venues, besting the 4,242 opening theater count of "" (2016) the previous March. The film made $10.4 million from Thursday night previews from 3,310 theaters, the second-highest of the franchise behind "Furious 7"s $15.8 million. On its opening day it grossed $45.6 million, with Thursday previews making up 22.8% of the amount, slightly better than the 23% for "Furious 7". Earning a total of $98.8 million on its opening weekend, the film scored the second-biggest opening in the franchise (the third-biggest adjusted for inflation) and the third-biggest April debut, behind "Furious 7" and "The Jungle Book" (2016). It posted an almost identical weekend multiplier like its immediate predecessor (2.166× vs 2.18×). Scott Mendelson of "Forbes" magazine compared the opening to how "Spectre" (2015) opening fell from "Skyfall" (2012). One notable record the film set was the best opening for a film with an African-American director, with Gray besting his own record set with "Straight Outta Compton" (2015).


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: Internationally, "The Fate of the Furious" secured a release in 69 countries. The film was projected to post an opening between $275–330 million from over 20,000 screens, with some analysts believing it could go as high as $350–400 million. It opened Wednesday, April 12, 2017, in 8 countries, earning $17.9 million (including previews from 12 countries). It opened in 33 more countries on Thursday, April 2, for a total of 41 countries, earning $58.4 million, marking Universal Pictures overseas' highest-grossing Thursday ever, and for a two-day total of $82.2 million. It added 22 more countries on Friday, April 3, earning $112.1 million to score Universal International's highest-grossing Friday of all time, for a three-day total of $194.8 million. In total, through Sunday, the film registered an opening of $441.1 million from 64 markets, setting new records for the biggest April international debut, Universal's biggest, and the biggest of all time overall (ahead of "Jurassic World")—It is the first such film to open past $400 million in a single weekend with a bulk of it coming from China. Around $22.6 million came from 681 IMAX screens which is Universal's second-biggest behind only "Jurassic World". It topped the international charts for a second consecutive term, adding another $158.1 million after which it was surpassed by "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" (2017), another film starring Diesel and Russell, in its third weekend. In IMAX, the film has grossed north of $58 million.


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: It set the record for the biggest opening day of 2017 in every territory it has been released at, the biggest opening day of all time in 16 markets, Universal's biggest opening day ever in 22 territories and the biggest opening in the franchise in 38 markets. Moreover, it recorded the biggest paid previews of all time in Malaysia, Singapore, Venezuela, and Vietnam. In terms of opening weekend, the film debuted at No. 1 in all markets where it set the biggest opening weekend of all time in 20 markets; Universal's biggest opening weekend ever in 28 markets; and the biggest opening in the franchise in 40 markets. The top openings were recorded in China ($192 million), Mexico ($17.7 million), the United Kingdom ($17.5 million), Russia ($14.2 million), Germany ($13.6 million), Brazil ($12.8 million), India ($10.7 million), Korea ($10.6 million), Middle East combined ($9.9 million), Taiwan ($9.3 million), France ($9.2 million), Australia ($9.5 million), Argentina ($9 million), Indonesia ($8.5 million), Italy ($6.7 million), Malaysia ($6.3 million), Spain ($6.1 million), Colombia ($4.9 million), Thailand ($4.9 million), Panama ($4.8 million), Pakistan ($2.5 million), and Romania ($1.7 million). Comparing market-to-market performance, "Furious 7" had an opening worth $250 million without China and Russia while "The Fate of the Furious" delivered $228.2 million debut, sans the two aforementioned markets. In Japan, the film debuted with $7.5 million. Although that's a new record for the franchise, the film debuted at number three behind Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" (2017) and local film "" (2017)—their robust second-weekend earnings blocked the former from taking the top spot, making Japan one of the few markets where the film didn't open at No. 1. The biggest-earning markets are China ($392.8 million), followed by Brazil ($41.8 million), the United Kingdom ($37.5 million), Mexico ($36.8 million), and Germany ($32.4 million). In Peru, it has become Universal's highest-grossing film ever.


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: "The Fate of the Furious" received mixed reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 67% with an average score of 6.13/10, based on 301 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, ""The Fate of the Furious" opens a new chapter in the franchise, fueled by the same infectious cast chemistry and over-the-top action fans have come to expect." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 56 out of 100 based on 45 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, and those at PostTrak gave the film an 88% overall positive score and a 71% "definite recommend".


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: Mike Ryan of "Uproxx" gave the film a positive review, writing: "This isn't my favorite of the series—that's still "Furious 7" (it's hard to top those jumps from skyscraper to skyscraper, but this is a worthy entry). These movies know what they are. These movies know they are fun. These are fun movies!" Owen Gleiberman of "Variety", in his positive review of the film, wrote: "Most franchises, after eight films, are feeling a twinge of exhaustion, but this one has achieved a level of success—and perpetual kinetic creative energy—that's a testament to its commercial/cultural/demographic resonance." He also wrote, "If this series, over the last 16 years, has taught us anything, it's that just when you think it's about to run out of gas, it gets outfitted with an even more elaborate fuel-injection system."


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a C− and called it the worst entry of the franchise, saying: "As much a mess of conflicting tones and styles as it is of locations, this setpiece—like the rest of Gray's movie—feels like a heap of random parts that were thrown together in the hopes that fate might somehow weld them into a roadworthy vehicle. But it's not all groundbreaking." J. R. Kinnard of "PopMatters" magazine gave a lukewarm review, writing: "It's unlikely that devotees will consider "The Fate of the Furious" one of the stronger entries in the series. Still, the filmmakers and actors are clearly dedicated to making a quality product, avoiding the complacency that often plagues action sequels." Richard Roeper of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film two stars out of four, saying: "Moments after Dom has gone rogue and apparently wants to kill them, they're making jokes. As they're racing through the streets of New York City or skidding along the ice in Russia, killing bad guys and narrowly avoiding getting killed themselves, they're crackin' wise. Even within this ludicrous universe, it's jarring to hear these supposedly smart folks, who refer to themselves as 'family,' acting like idiots who don't seem to care if they live or die, or if their friends survive."


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: Professor of international political economy Richard E. Feinberg has commented on the political significance of the film's opening setting of Havana in the context of shifting U.S.–Cuban relations, calling the eighth instalment, "Hollywood's love letter to Havana". He writes, "In the Cuban sequence's dramatic climax, Dom wins his hard-fought one-mile race ("a Cuban mile") against a tough local competitor, by a nose. The loser is gracious: 'You won my car and you earned my respect,' he admits to the FF hero. Dom's response is equally magnanimous: 'Keep your car, your respect is good enough for me.' In this instance, FF8 captures the essence of the relations between the United States and Cuba: it's all about mutual respect."


title: The Fate of the Furious

text: A sequel titled "F9", directed by Justin Lin and written by Daniel Casey, was released on June 25, 2021.


title: Transylvania

text: Transylvania ( or ; ; ) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Apuseni Mountains. Broader definitions of Transylvania also include the western and northwestern Romanian regions of Crișana and Maramureș, and occasionally Banat.


title: Transylvania

text: Transylvania is known for the scenery of its Carpathian landscape and its rich history. It also contains Romania's second-largest city, Cluj-Napoca, and other iconic cities and towns such as Brașov, Sibiu, Târgu Mureș, Alba Iulia and Sighișoara. It is also the home of some of Romania's UNESCO World Heritage Sites such as the Villages with fortified churches, the Historic Centre of Sighișoara, the Dacian Fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains and the Roșia Montană Mining Cultural Landscape.


title: Transylvania

text: It was under the rule of the Agathyrsi, part of the Dacian Kingdom (168 BC–106 AD), Roman Dacia (106–271), the Goths, the Hunnic Empire (4th–5th centuries), the Kingdom of the Gepids (5th–6th centuries), the Avar Khaganate (6th–9th centuries), the Slavs, and the 9th century First Bulgarian Empire. During the late 9th century, Transylvania was reached and conquered by the Hungarian conquerors, and Gyula's family from seven chieftains of the Hungarians ruled it in the 10th century. King Stephen I of Hungary asserted his claim to rule all lands dominated by Hungarian lords. He personally led his army against his maternal uncle Gyula III and Transylvania became part of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1002; it then belonged to the Lands of the Hungarian Crown until 1918.


title: Transylvania

text: After the Battle of Mohács in 1526 it belonged to the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom, from which the Principality of Transylvania emerged in 1570 by the Treaty of Speyer. During most of the 16th and 17th centuries, the principality was a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire; however, the principality had dual suzerainty (Ottoman and Habsburg).


title: Transylvania

text: In 1690, the Habsburg monarchy gained possession of Transylvania through the Hungarian crown. After the failure of Rákóczi's War of Independence in 1711, Habsburg control of Transylvania was consolidated, and Hungarian Transylvanian princes were replaced with Habsburg imperial governors. During the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Hungarian government proclaimed union with Transylvania in the April Laws of 1848. After the failure of the revolution, the March Constitution of Austria decreed that the Principality of Transylvania be a separate crown land entirely independent of Hungary. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, the separate status of Transylvania ceased, it was incorporated again into the Kingdom of Hungary (Transleithania) as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After World War I, Transylvania became part of Kingdom of Romania by the Treaty of Trianon in 1920. In 1940, Northern Transylvania reverted to Hungary as a result of the Second Vienna Award, but it was reclaimed by Romania after the end of World War II.


title: Transylvania

text: In popular culture, Transylvania is commonly associated with vampires because of the influence of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel "Dracula" and the many subsequent books and films that have been inspired by the tale.


title: Transylvania

text: The earliest known reference to Transylvania appears in a Medieval Latin document of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1075 as , meaning "beyond the forest" ( meaning "beyond" or "on the far side of" and the accusative case of () "woods, forest"). Transylvania, with an alternative Latin prepositional prefix, means "on the other side of the woods". Hungarian historians claim that the Medieval Latin form , later , was a direct translation from the Hungarian form . That also was used as an alternative name in German ("beyond the forest") (13th–14th centuries) and Ukrainian ().


title: Transylvania

text: The first known civilization to inhabit the territory was the Agathyrsi belonging to the Scythic cultures. From the 4th century BC Celtic La Tène culture came to domination. The indigenous Dacian tribes engaged in politics from the 1st century BC and united under King Burebista forming their kingdom Dacia.


title: Transylvania

text: The Roman Empire made heavy efforts to seize the territory from King Decebalus, resulting in the formation of Roman Dacia in 106, after Trajan's costly and bloody wars. During Roman rule, the territory, depleted of its indigenous population, was repopulated with Latin colonists and its rich resource stock was systematically exploited. However, due to the growing threat of East Germanic and Carpic invasions, Emperor Aurelian withdrew his legions and evacuated the citizens south of the Lower Danube in 275, after which the province was occupied by the Goths. In 376, a powerful nomadic people, the Huns, defeated and shattered the Goths, settling down in the area. After the death of King Attila, their empire disintegrated and the Gepids conquered the region in 455, under King Ardaric. For two centuries, the Gepids controlled Transylvania. They waged successful war against the Eastern Roman Empire, and less successful against the Ostrogoths in Pannonia. They were successfully defeated by the Lombards and Avars in 567. In the following years, the Avars took full control over Transylvania, heavily settling the area with Slavic tribes who accepted their suzerainty. The expansion of the Frankish Empire, however imposed a growing threat on them and crushed their khaganate in the Avar Wars. The Avars and Slavs, although decreased seriously, continued to inhabit the Carpathian Basin. The First Bulgarian Empire annexed Southern Transylvania. Smaller Slavic polities were also present, nevertheless they could hardly keep their independence.


title: Transylvania

text: In the late 9th century, Transylvania was reached and conquered by the Hungarian conquerors. There is an ongoing scholarly debate over the demographics in Transylvania in this time. According to the theory of Daco-Roman Continuity, Romanians continuously lived on the territory for the past 2500 years. Opponents of this hypothesis point to the lack of written, archaeological and linguistic evidence to support this. Hungarian medieval chronicles claimed that the Székely people descended of the Huns who remained in Transylvania, and later allying with the returning Hungarians conquered together the Carpathian Basin. According to the "Gesta Hungarorum", the Vlach ("Blacorum, Blacus") leader Gelou ruled part of Transylvania before the Hungarians arrived, historians debate whether he was a historical person or an imaginary figure. The gyulas from the seven chieftains of the Hungarians governed Transylvania in the 10th century. King Stephen I of Hungary asserted his claim to rule all lands dominated by Hungarian lords, he personally led his army against his maternal uncle Gyula III and Transylvania became part of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1002. Place names derived from the Hungarian tribes evidence that major Hungarian groups settled in Transylvania from the 950s. In the 12th and 13th centuries, Southeast and Northeast Transylvania was settled by Saxon colonists. After the Battle of Kosovo and Ottoman arrival at the Hungarian border, thousands of Vlach and Serbian refugees came to Transylvania.


title: Transylvania

text: Between 1002 and 1526, Transylvania was part of the Kingdom of Hungary, led by a voivode appointed by the King of Hungary. After the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Transylvania became part of the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom. Later, in 1570, the kingdom transformed into the Principality of Transylvania by the Treaty of Speyer, which was ruled primarily by Calvinist Hungarian princes. The Eastern Hungarian king became the first prince of Transylvania, according to the treaty, the Principality of Transylvania continued to be part of the Kingdom of Hungary in the sense of public law, which stressed in a highly significant way that John Sigismund's possessions belonged to the Holy Crown of Hungary and he was not permitted to alienate them.


title: Transylvania

text: The Habsburgs acquired the territory shortly after the Battle of Vienna in 1683. In 1687, the rulers of Transylvania recognized the suzerainty of the Habsburg emperor Leopold I, and the region was officially attached to the Habsburg Empire. The Habsburgs acknowledged Principality of Transylvania as one of the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen, but the territory of principality was administratively separated from Habsburg Hungary and subjected to the direct rule of the emperor's governors. In 1699 the Ottomans legally acknowledged their loss of Transylvania in the Treaty of Karlowitz; however, some anti-Habsburg elements within the principality submitted to the emperor only in the 1711 Peace of Szatmár, and Habsburg control over Principality of Transylvania was consolidated. The Grand Principality of Transylvania was reintroduced 54 years later in 1765.


title: Transylvania

text: The Hungarian revolution against the Habsburgs started in 1848. The revolution in the Kingdom of Hungary grew into a war for the total independence from the Habsburg dynasty. Julius Jacob von Haynau, the leader of the Austrian army was appointed plenipotentiary to restore order in Hungary after the conflict. He ordered the execution of The 13 Hungarian Martyrs of Arad and Prime Minister Batthyány was executed the same day in Pest. After a series of serious Austrian defeats in 1849, the empire came close to the brink of collapse. Thus, the new young emperor Franz Joseph I had to call for Russian help in the name of the Holy Alliance. Czar Nicholas, I answered, and sent 200,000 men strong army with 80,000 auxiliary forces. Finally, the joint army of Russian and Austrian forces defeated the Hungarian forces. After the restoration of Habsburg power, Hungary was placed under martial law. Following the Hungarian Army's surrender at Világos (now Șiria, Romania) in 1849, their revolutionary banners were taken to Russia by the Tsarist troops and were kept there both under the Tsarist and Communist systems (in 1940 the Soviet Union offered the banners to the Horthy government).


title: Transylvania

text: After the Ausgleich of 1867, the Principality of Transylvania was once again abolished. The territory then became part of Transleithania, an addition to the newly established Austro-Hungarian Empire. Romanian intellectuals issued the Blaj Pronouncement in protest.


title: Transylvania

text: The region was the site of an important battle during World War I, which caused the replacement of the German Chief of Staff, temporarily ceased German offensives on all the other fronts and created a unified Central Powers command under the German Kaiser. Following defeat in World War I, Austria-Hungary disintegrated. Elected representatives of the ethnic Romanians from Transylvania, Banat, Crișana and Maramureș backed by the mobilization of Romanian troops, proclaimed Union with Romania on 1 December 1918. The "Proclamation of Union" of Alba Iulia was adopted by the Deputies of the Romanians from Transylvania and supported one month later by the vote of the Deputies of the Saxons from Transylvania.


title: Transylvania

text: The national holiday of Romania, the Great Union Day (also called "Unification Day") occurring on December 1, celebrates this event. The holiday was established after the Romanian Revolution, and marks the unification not only of Transylvania but also of the provinces of Banat, Bessarabia and Bukovina with the Romanian Kingdom. These other provinces had all joined with the Kingdom of Romania a few months earlier. In 1920, the Treaty of Trianon established new borders, much of the proclaimed territories became part of Romania. Hungary protested against the new state borders, as they did not follow the real ethnic boundaries, for over 1.3 or 1.6 million Hungarian people, representing 25.5 or 31.6% of the Transylvanian population (depending on statistics used), were living on the Romanian side of the border, mainly in the Székely Land of Eastern Transylvania, and along the newly created border.


title: Transylvania

text: In August 1940, by the Second Vienna Award, with the arbitration of Germany and Italy, Hungary gained Northern Transylvania (including parts of Crișana and Maramureș) totaling over 40% of the territory lost in 1920. This award did not solve the nationality problem, as over 1.15–1.3 million Romanians (or 48% to more than 50% of the population of the ceded territory) remained in Northern Transylvania while 0.36–0.8 million Hungarians (or 11% to more than 20% of the population) continued to reside in Southern Transylvania. The Second Vienna Award was voided on 12 September 1944 by the Allied Commission through the Armistice Agreement with Romania (Article 19); and the 1947 Treaty of Paris reaffirmed the borders between Romania and Hungary, as originally defined in the Treaty of Trianon, 27 years earlier, thus confirming the return of Northern Transylvania to Romania.


title: Transylvania

text: From 1947 to 1989, Transylvania, along with the rest of Romania, was under a communist regime. The ethnic clashes of Târgu Mureș occurred between ethnic Romanians and Hungarians in March 1990 after the fall of the communist regime and became the most notable inter-ethnic incident in the post-communist era.


title: Transylvania

text: The Transylvanian Plateau, high, is drained by the Mureș, Someș, Criș, and Olt rivers, as well as other tributaries of the Danube. This core of historical Transylvania roughly corresponds with nine counties of modern Romania. The plateau is almost entirely surrounded by the Eastern, Southern and Romanian Western branches of the Carpathian Mountains. The area includes the Transylvanian Plain. Other areas to the west and north are widely considered part of Transylvania. In common reference, the Western border of Transylvania has come to be identified with the present Romanian-Hungarian border, settled in the 1920 Treaty of Trianon, though geographically the two are not identical.


title: Transylvania

text: The regions granted to Romania in 1920 covered 23 counties including nearly (102,787–103,093 km in Hungarian sources and 102,282 km in contemporary Romanian documents). Nowadays, due to the several administrative reorganisations, the territory covers 16 counties (Romanian: "județ"), with an area of , in central and northwest Romania.


title: Transylvania

text: The 16 counties are: Alba, Arad, Bihor, Bistrița-Năsăud, Brașov, Caraș-Severin, Cluj, Covasna, Harghita, Hunedoara, Maramureș, Mureș, Sălaj, Satu Mare, Sibiu, and Timiș.


title: Transylvania

text: Transylvania contains both largely urban counties, such as Brașov and Hunedoara counties, as well as largely rural ones, such as Bistrița-Năsăud and Sălaj counties.


title: Transylvania

text: Since 1998, Romania has been divided into eight development regions, acting as divisions that coordinate and implement socio-economic development at regional level. Six counties (Alba, Brașov, Covasna, Harghita, Mureș and Sibiu) form the Centru development region, other six counties (Bihor, Bistrița-Năsăud, Cluj, Maramureș, Satu Mare, Sălaj) form the Nord-Vest development region, while four (Arad, Caraș-Severin, Hunedoara, Timiș) form the Vest development region.


title: Transylvania

text: Cluj-Napoca, commonly known as Cluj, is the second most populous city in Romania (as of 2011 census), after the national capital Bucharest, and the seat of Cluj County. From 1790 to 1848 and from 1861 to 1867, it was the official capital of the Grand Principality of Transylvania. Brașov is an important tourist destination, being the largest city in a mountain resorts area, and a central location, suitable for exploring Romania, with the distances to several tourist destinations (including the Black Sea resorts, the monasteries in northern Moldavia, and the wooden churches of Maramureș) being similar.


title: Transylvania

text: Sibiu is one of the most important cultural centres of Romania and was designated the European Capital of Culture for the year 2007, along with the city of Luxembourg, and it was formerly the centre of the Transylvanian Saxon culture and between 1692 and 1791 and 1849–65 was the capital of the Principality of Transylvania.


title: Transylvania

text: Alba Iulia is a city located on the Mureș River in Alba County, and since the High Middle Ages, the city has been the seat of Transylvania's Roman Catholic diocese. Between 1541 and 1690 it was the capital of the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom and the latter Principality of Transylvania. Alba Iulia also has historical importance because at the end of World War I, representatives of the Romanian population of Transylvania gathered in Alba Iulia on 1 December 1918 to proclaim the union of Transylvania with the Kingdom of Romania. In Transylvania, there are many medieval smaller towns such as Sighișoara, Mediaș, Sebeș, and Bistrița.


title: Transylvania

text: Official censuses with information on Transylvania's population have been conducted since the 18th century. On May 1, 1784 the Emperor Joseph II called for the first official census of the Habsburg Empire, including Transylvania. The data was published in 1787, and this census showed only the overall population (1,440,986 inhabitants). , a 19th-century Hungarian statistician, estimated in 1842 that in the population of Transylvania for the years 1830–1840 the majority were 62.3% Romanians and 23.3% Hungarians.


title: Transylvania

text: In the last quarter of the 19th century, the Hungarian population of Transylvania increased from 24.9% in 1869 to 31.6%, as indicated in the 1910 Hungarian census (the majority of the Jewish population reported Hungarian as their primary language, so they were also counted as ethnically Hungarian in the 1910 census). At the same time, the percentage of the Romanian population decreased from 59.0% to 53.8% and the percentage of the German population decreased from 11.9% to 10.7%, for a total population of 5,262,495. Magyarization policies greatly contributed to this shift.


title: Transylvania

text: The percentage of the Romanian majority has significantly increased since the declaration of the union of Transylvania with Romania after World War I in 1918. The proportion of Hungarians in Transylvania was in steep decline as more of the region's inhabitants moved into urban areas, where the pressure to assimilate and Romanianize was greater. The expropriation of the estates of Magyar magnates, the distribution of the lands to the Romanian peasants, and the policy of cultural Romanianization that followed the Treaty of Trianon were major causes of friction between Hungary and Romania. Other factors include the emigration of non-Romanian peoples, assimilation and internal migration within Romania (estimates show that between 1945 and 1977, some 630,000 people moved from the Old Kingdom to Transylvania, and 280,000 from Transylvania to the Old Kingdom, most notably to Bucharest).


title: Transylvania

text: According to the results of the 2011 Population Census, the total population of Transylvania was 6,789,250 inhabitants and the ethnic groups were: Romanians – 70.62%, Hungarians – 17.92%, Roma – 3.99%, Ukrainians – 0.63%, Germans – 0.49%, other – 0.77%. Some 378,298 inhabitants (5.58%) have not declared their ethnicity. The ethnic Hungarian population of Transylvania form a majority in the counties of Covasna (73.6%) and Harghita (84.8%). The Hungarians are also numerous in the following counties: Mureș (37.8%), Satu Mare (34.5%), Bihor (25.2%), and Sălaj (23.2%).


title: Transylvania

text: Transylvania is rich in mineral resources, notably lignite, iron, lead, manganese, gold, copper, natural gas, salt, and sulfur.


title: Transylvania

text: Transylvania's GDP (nominal) is 194 billion$ and its GDP per capita measures around 24,500$. Transylvania's Human Development Index is ranked 0.890, which makes Transylvania the 2nd most developed region in Romania after Bucharest-Ilfov and makes it comparable to countries like Czech Republic, Poland and Estonia.


title: Transylvania

text: There are large iron and steel, chemical, and textile industries. Stock raising, agriculture, wine production and fruit growing are important occupations. Agriculture is widespread in the Transylvanian Plateau, including growing cereals, vegetables, viticulture and breeding cattle, sheep, swine, and poultry. Timber is another valuable resource.


title: Transylvania

text: IT, electronics and automotive industries are important in urban and university centers like Cluj-Napoca (Robert Bosch GmbH, Emerson Electric), Timișoara (Alcatel-Lucent, Flextronics and Continental AG), Brașov, Sibiu, Oradea and Arad. The cities of Cluj Napoca and Târgu Mureș are connected with a strong medical tradition, and according to the same classifications top performance hospitals exist there.


title: Transylvania

text: Native brands include: Roman of Brașov (trucks and buses), Azomureș of Târgu Mureș (fertilizers), Terapia of Cluj-Napoca (pharmaceuticals), Banca Transilvania of Cluj-Napoca (finance), Romgaz and Transgaz of Mediaș (natural gas), Jidvei of Alba county (alcoholic beverages), Timișoreana of Timișoara (alcoholic beverages) and others.


title: Transylvania

text: The Jiu Valley, located in the south of Hunedoara County, has been a major mining area throughout the second half of the 19th century and the 20th century, but many mines were closed down in the years following the collapse of the communist regime, forcing the region to diversify its economy.


title: Transylvania

text: During the Second World War, Transylvania (the Southern/Romanian half, as the region was divided during the war) was crucial to the Romanian defense industry. Transylvanian factories built until 1945 over 1,000 warplanes and over 1,000 artillery pieces of all types, among others.


title: Transylvania

text: The culture of Transylvania is complex, due to its varied history and longstanding multiculturalism, having incorporated significant Hungarian (see Hungarians in Romania) and German (see Germans of Romania) influences.


title: Transylvania

text: With regard to architecture, the Transylvanian Gothic style is preserved to this day in monuments such as the Black Church in Brașov (14th and 15th centuries) and a number of other cathedrals, as well as the Bran Castle in Brașov County (14th century), the Hunyad Castle in Hunedoara (15th century).


title: Transylvania

text: Notable writers such as Emil Cioran, Lucian Blaga, George Coșbuc, Ioan Slavici, Octavian Goga, Liviu Rebreanu, Endre Ady, Elek Benedek and Károly Kós were born in Transylvania. Liviu Rebreanu wrote the novel "Ion", which introduces the reader to a depiction of the life of Romanian peasants and intellectuals of Transylvania at the turn of the 20th century. Károly Kós was one of the most important writers supporting the movement of Transylvanianism.


title: Transylvania

text: Transylvania has a very rich and unique religious history from the other regions of Europe. Since the Protestant Reformation, different Christian denominations have been coexisting in this religious melting pot, including Romanian Orthodox, other Eastern Orthodox, Latin Catholic and Romanian Greek Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, and Unitarian branches. Other faiths also are present, including Jews and Muslims. Under the Habsburgs, Transylvania served as a place for "religious undesirables". People who arrived in Transylvania included those that did not conform to the Catholic Church and were sent here forcibly, as well as many religious refugees. Transylvania has a long history of religious tolerance. This has been ensured by its religious pluralism. Christianity is the largest religion in Transylvania. Transylvania has also been (and still is) a center for Christian denominations other than Eastern Orthodoxy, the form of Christianity that most Romanians currently follow. As such, there are significant numbers of inhabitants of Transylvania that follow Latin Catholicism and Greek Catholicism, and Protestantism. Even though before 1948, the population of Transylvania split between Eastern Orthodox, Greek Catholic other forms of Christianity, during the Communist Period the Orthodox Church was much more favored by the state which has led to Eastern Orthodoxy being the religion of the majority of Transylvanians. UBB, located in Cluj-Napoca is the only university in Europe that has four faculties of theology (Orthodox, Reformed, Roman Catholic, and Greek Catholic).


title: Transylvania

text: The first heraldic representations of Transylvania date from the 16th century. The Diet of 1659 codified the representation of the privileged nations (Unio Trium Nationum (Union of the Three Nations)) in Transylvania's coat of arms. It depicted a black eagle (Turul) on a blue background, representing the Hungarians, the Sun and the Moon representing the Székelys, and seven red towers on a yellow background representing the seven fortified cities of the Transylvanian Saxons. The flag and coat of arms of Transylvania were granted by Queen Maria Theresa in 1765, when she established a Grand Principality within the Habsburg monarchy.


title: Transylvania

text: In 1596, Levinus Hulsius created a coat of arms for Transylvania, consisting of a shield with a rising eagle in the upper field and seven hills with towers on top in the lower field. He published it in his work ""Chronologia"", issued in Nuremberg the same year. The seal from 1597 of Sigismund Báthory, Prince of Transylvania, reproduced the new coat of arms with some slight changes: in the upper field the eagle was flanked by a sun and a moon and in the lower field the hills were replaced by simple towers. The coat of arms of Sigismund Báthory beside the coat of arms of the Báthory family, included the Transylvanian, Wallachia and Moldavian coat of arms, he used the title Prince of Transylvania, Wallachia and Moldavia. A short-lived heraldic representation of Transylvania is found on the seal of Michael the Brave. Besides the Wallachian eagle and the Moldavian aurochs, Transylvania is represented by two lions holding a sword standing on seven hills. Hungarian Transylvanian princes used the symbols of the Transylvanian coat of arms usually with the Hungarian coat of arms since the 16th century because Transylvanian princes maintained their claims to the throne of the Kingdom of Hungary.


title: Transylvania

text: While neither symbol has official status in present-day Romania, the Transylvanian coat of arms is marshalled within the national Coat of arms of Romania, it was also a component of the Coat of arms of Hungary.


title: Transylvania

text: Following the publication of Emily Gerard's "The Land Beyond the Forest" (1888), Bram Stoker wrote his gothic horror novel "Dracula" in 1897, using Transylvania as a setting. With its success, Transylvania became associated in the English- and Spanish-speaking world with vampires. Since then it has been represented in fiction and literature as a land of mystery and magic. For example, in Paulo Coelho's novel "The Witch of Portobello", the main character, Sherine Khalil, is described as a Transylvanian orphan with a Romani mother, in an effort to add to the character's exotic mystique. The so-called Transylvanian trilogy of historical novels by Miklós Bánffy, "The Writing on the Wall", is an extended treatment of the 19th- and early 20th-century social and political history of the country. Among the first actors to portray Dracula in film was Bela Lugosi, who was born in Lugos (now Lugoj), in present-day Romania. There is also an American animated movie franchise called "Hotel Transylvania". The Principality of Transylvania is also a playable nation in "Europa Universalis IV".


title: John Roberts

text: John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as the 17th chief justice of the United States since 2005. Roberts has authored the majority opinion in several landmark cases, including "National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius," "Shelby County v. Holder", and "Riley v. California". He has been described as having a conservative judicial philosophy but, above all, is an institutionalist. He has shown a willingness to work with the Supreme Court's liberal bloc, and after the retirement of Anthony Kennedy in 2018, he has been regarded as the primary swing vote on the Court. Roberts is no longer the median vote since Amy Coney Barrett replaced Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020.


title: John Roberts

text: Roberts grew up in northwestern Indiana and was educated in a series of Catholic schools. He studied history at Harvard University and then attended Harvard Law School, where he was managing editor of the "Harvard Law Review". He served as a law clerk for Circuit Judge Henry Friendly and then-associate justice William Rehnquist before taking a position in the attorney general's office during the Reagan Administration. He went on to serve the Reagan Administration and the George H. W. Bush Administration in the Department of Justice and the Office of the White House Counsel, during which he was nominated by George H. W. Bush to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, but no vote on his nomination was held. Roberts then spent 14 years in private law practice. During this time, he argued 39 cases before the Supreme Court. Notably, he represented 19 states in "United States v. Microsoft Corp."


title: John Roberts

text: Roberts became a federal judge in 2003, when President George W. Bush appointed him to the District of Columbia Circuit. During his two-year tenure on the D.C. Circuit, Roberts authored 49 opinions, eliciting two dissents from other judges, and authoring three dissents of his own. In 2005, Bush nominated Roberts to the Supreme Court, initially to be an associate justice to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Chief Justice William Rehnquist died shortly afterward, however, before Roberts's Senate confirmation hearings had begun. Bush then withdrew Roberts's nomination and instead nominated him to become Chief Justice, choosing Samuel Alito to replace O'Connor.


title: John Roberts

text: John Glover Roberts Jr. was born on January 27, 1955, in Buffalo, New York, the son of Rosemary ("née" Podrasky; 1929–2019) and John Glover "Jack" Roberts Sr. (1928–2008). His father had Irish and Welsh ancestry, and his mother was a descendant of Slovak immigrants from Szepes, Hungary. He has an elder sister, Kathy, and two younger sisters, Peggy and Barbara. Roberts spent his early childhood years in Hamburg, New York, where his father worked as an electrical engineer for the Bethlehem Steel Corporation at its large factory in Lackawanna.


title: John Roberts

text: In 1965, ten-year-old Roberts and his family moved to Long Beach, Indiana, where his father became manager of a new steel plant in nearby Burns Harbor. Roberts attended La Lumiere School, a small but affluent and academically rigorous Catholic boarding school in La Porte, Indiana, where he was captain of the school’s football team and was a regional champion in wrestling. He also participated in choir and drama, and co-edited the school newspaper. He graduated first in his class in 1973.


title: John Roberts

text: Roberts then studied history at Harvard University, entering with sophomore (second-year) standing based on his high academic achievement in high school. One of his first papers, "Marxism and Bolshevism: Theory and Practice", won Harvard's William Scott Ferguson Prize for most outstanding essay by a sophomore history major, and in his senior year his paper "The Utopian Conservative: A Study of Continuity and Change in the Thought of Daniel Webster" won a Bowdoin Prize. He lived in Straus Hall and Leverett House, and each summer he returned home to earn money working at the steel plant his father managed. He graduated in 1976 with an A.B., "summa cum laude," and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.


title: John Roberts

text: Roberts had originally planned to pursue a Ph.D. in history and become a professor but decided instead to attend Harvard Law School. He became managing editor of the "Harvard Law Review" and graduated in 1979 with a J.D., "magna cum laude".


title: John Roberts

text: After graduating from law school, Roberts was a law clerk for judge Henry Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1979 to 1980, then for justice (later chief justice in 1986) William Rehnquist of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1980 to 1981.


title: John Roberts

text: Following his clerkships, Roberts began working for the U.S. government in the Administration of President Ronald Reagan, first from 1981 to 1982 as a special assistant to U.S. Attorney General William French Smith, then from 1982 to 1986 as an associate with the White House Counsel. He then entered private practice in Washington, D.C., as an associate at the law firm Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells) and worked in the field of corporate law.


title: John Roberts

text: In 1989, Roberts joined the Administration of president George H. W. Bush as Principal Deputy Solicitor General. He served as the acting solicitor general for the case of "Metro Broadcasting, Inc. v. FCC" when the solicitor general, Ken Starr, had a conflict of interest. In the case, Roberts argued against policies of the FCC intended to increase minority ownership of broadcast licenses, arguing that the racial preferences were unconstitutional. Roberts's decision to argue that a federal agency's policy was unconstitutional surprised many lawyers within the Solicitor General's office. In 1992, Bush nominated Roberts to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, but no Senate vote was held, and Roberts's nomination expired at the end of the 102nd Congress.


title: John Roberts

text: Following Bush's defeat by Bill Clinton in the 1992 presidential election, Roberts left government service and returned to Hogan & Hartson as a partner. He became the head of the firm's appellate practice, and also became an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. During this time, Roberts argued 39 cases before the Supreme Court, prevailing in 25 of them. He represented 19 states in "United States v. Microsoft". Those cases include:


title: John Roberts

text: During this time he worked pro bono for gay rights advocates, reviewing filings and preparing arguments for the 1996 Supreme Court case "Romer v. Evans", which was described in 2005 as "the movement's most important legal victory". Roberts's involvement with the case was minimal, as he later stated that he had been involved for less than ten hours in preparing oral arguments. He also argued on behalf of the homeless, in a case which became one of Roberts's "few appellate losses." He also represented, pro bono, a man who was sentenced to death for killing eight people in Florida.


title: John Roberts

text: During the late 1990s, while working for Hogan & Hartson, Roberts served as a member of the steering committee of the Washington, D.C., chapter of the conservative Federalist Society. In 2000, Roberts advised Jeb Bush, then governor of Florida, concerning Bush's actions in the Florida election recount during the presidential election.


title: John Roberts

text: On May 9, 2001, President George W. Bush nominated Roberts to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to replace judge James L. Buckley, who had recently retired. However, the Democratic Party had a majority in the Senate at the time and was in conflict with Bush over his judicial nominees. Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy refused to give Roberts a hearing in the 107th Congress. The GOP regained control of the Senate on January 7, 2003, and Bush resubmitted Roberts's nomination that day. Roberts was confirmed on May 8, 2003, and received his commission on June 2, 2003. During his two-year tenure on the D.C. Circuit, Roberts authored 49 opinions, eliciting two dissents from other judges, and authoring three dissents of his own.


title: John Roberts

text: "Hedgepeth v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority", 386 F.3d 1148, involved a 12-year-old girl who was arrested, searched, handcuffed, and fingerprinted after she violated a publicly advertised zero tolerance "no eating" policy in a Washington Metro station by eating a single french fry. She was released to her mother three hours later. She sued, alleging that an adult would have only received a citation for the same offense, while children must be detained until parents are notified. The D.C. Circuit unanimously affirmed the district court's dismissal of the girl's lawsuit, which was predicated on alleged violations of the Fourth Amendment (unreasonable search and seizure) and Fifth Amendment (equal protection).


title: John Roberts

text: "No one is very happy about the events that led to this litigation," Roberts wrote. Because age discrimination is evaluated using a rational basis test, however, only weak state interests were required to justify the policy, and the panel concluded they were present. "Because parents and guardians play an essential role in that rehabilitative process, it is reasonable for the District to seek to ensure their participation, and the method chosen—detention until the parent is notified and retrieves the child—certainly does that, in a way issuing a citation might not." The court concluded that the policy and detention were constitutional, noting that "the question before us ... is not whether these policies were a bad idea, but whether they violated the Fourth and Fifth amendments to the Constitution," language reminiscent of Justice Potter Stewart's dissent in "Griswold v. Connecticut". "We are not asked in this case to say whether we think this law is unwise, or even asinine," Stewart had written; "[w]e are asked to hold that it violates the United States Constitution. And that, I cannot do."


title: John Roberts

text: In "Hamdan v. Rumsfeld", Roberts was part of a unanimous circuit panel overturning the district court ruling and upholding military tribunals set up by the Bush Administration for trying terrorism suspects known as enemy combatants. Circuit Judge A. Raymond Randolph, writing for the court, ruled that Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a driver for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, could be tried by a military court because:


title: John Roberts

text: The court held open the possibility of judicial review of the results of the military commission after the current proceedings ended. This decision was overturned on June 29, 2006, by the Supreme Court in a 5–3 decision, with Roberts not participating due to his prior participation in the case as a circuit judge.


title: John Roberts

text: Roberts wrote a dissent in "Rancho Viejo, LLC v. Norton", 323 F.3d 1062, a case involving the protection of a rare California toad under the Endangered Species Act. When the court denied a rehearing en banc, 334 F.3d 1158 (D.C. Cir. 2003), Roberts dissented, arguing that the panel opinion was inconsistent with "United States v. Lopez" and "United States v. Morrison" in that it incorrectly focused on whether the "regulation" substantially affects interstate commerce rather than on whether the regulated "activity" does. In Roberts's view, the Commerce Clause of the Constitution did not permit the government to regulate activity affecting what he called "a hapless toad" that "for reasons of its own, lives its entire life in California." He said that reviewing the panel decision would allow the court "alternative grounds for sustaining application of the Act that may be more consistent with Supreme Court precedent."


title: John Roberts

text: On July 19, 2005, President Bush nominated Roberts to the U.S. Supreme Court to fill a vacancy to be created by the impending retirement of justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Roberts's nomination was the first Supreme Court nomination since Stephen Breyer in 1994.


title: John Roberts

text: On September 3, 2005, while Roberts's confirmation was pending before the Senate, chief justice William H. Rehnquist died. Two days later, Bush withdrew Roberts's nomination as O'Connor's successor and announced Roberts's new nomination as chief justice.


title: John Roberts

text: During his confirmation hearings, Roberts said that he did not have a comprehensive jurisprudential philosophy, and he did "not think beginning with an all-encompassing approach to constitutional interpretation is the best way to faithfully construe the document." Roberts compared judges to baseball umpires: "[I]t's my job to call balls and strikes, and not to pitch or bat." Among the issues he discussed during the hearings were:


title: John Roberts

text: On the subject of "stare decisis", referring to "Brown v. Board of Education", the decision overturning school segregation, Roberts said that "the Court in that case, of course, overruled a prior decision. I don't think that constitutes judicial activism because obviously if the decision is wrong, it should be overruled. That's not activism. That's applying the law correctly."


title: John Roberts

text: While working as a lawyer for the Reagan Administration, Roberts wrote legal memos defending administration policies on abortion. At his nomination hearing Roberts testified that the legal memos represented the views of the administration he was representing at the time and not necessarily his own. "Senator, I was a staff lawyer; I didn't have a position," Roberts said. As a lawyer in the George H. W. Bush Administration, Roberts signed a legal brief urging the court to overturn "Roe v. Wade".


title: John Roberts

text: In private meetings with senators before his confirmation, Roberts testified that "Roe" was settled law, but added that it was subject to the legal principle of "stare decisis," meaning that while the Court must give some weight to the precedent, it was not legally bound to uphold it.


title: John Roberts

text: In his Senate testimony, Roberts said that, while sitting on the Appellate Court, he had an obligation to respect precedents established by the Supreme Court, including the right to an abortion. He stated: ""Roe v. Wade" is the settled law of the land. ... There is nothing in my personal views that would prevent me from fully and faithfully applying that precedent, as well as "Casey"." Following the traditional reluctance of nominees to indicate which way they might vote on an issue likely to come before the Supreme Court, he did not explicitly say whether he would vote to overturn either. However, Jeffrey Rosen adds, "I wouldn't bet on Chief Justice Roberts's siding unequivocally with the anti-"Roe" forces."


title: John Roberts

text: On September 22, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Roberts's nomination by a vote of 13–5, with Senators Ted Kennedy, Richard Durbin, Charles Schumer, Joe Biden and Dianne Feinstein voting against. Roberts was confirmed by the full Senate on September 29 by a margin of 78–22. All Republicans and the one Independent voted for Roberts; the Democrats split evenly, 22–22. Roberts was confirmed by what was, historically, a narrow margin for a Supreme Court justice. However, all subsequent confirmation votes have been even more narrow.


title: John Roberts

text: Roberts took the Constitutional oath of office, administered by Associate Justice John Paul Stevens at the White House, on September 29, 2005. On October 3, he took the judicial oath provided for by the Judiciary Act of 1789 at the United States Supreme Court building.


title: John Roberts

text: Justice Antonin Scalia said that Roberts "pretty much run[s] the show the same way" as Rehnquist, albeit "let[ting] people go on a little longer at conference ... but [he'll] get over that." Roberts has been portrayed as a consistent advocate for conservative principles by analysts such as Jeffrey Toobin. Garrett Epps has described Roberts's prose as "crystalline, vivid, and often humorous".


title: John Roberts

text: Seventh Circuit judge Diane Sykes, surveying Roberts's first term on the Court, concluded that his jurisprudence "appears to be strongly rooted in the discipline of traditional legal method, evincing a fidelity to text, structure, history, and the constitutional hierarchy. He exhibits the restraint that flows from the careful application of established decisional rules and the practice of reasoning from the case law. He appears to place great stock in the process-oriented tools and doctrinal rules that guard against the aggregation of judicial power and keep judicial discretion in check: jurisdictional limits, structural federalism, textualism, and the procedural rules that govern the scope of judicial review." Roberts has been said to operate under an approach of judicial minimalism in his decisions, having stated, "[i]f it is not necessary to decide more to a case, then in my view it is necessary not to decide more to a case." His decision making and leadership demonstrates an intent to preserve the Court's power and legitimacy while dually maintaining judicial independence. Roberts was ranked 50th in the 2016 Forbes ranking of "The World's Most Powerful People."


title: John Roberts

text: In November 2018, the Associated Press approached Roberts for comment after President Donald Trump described a jurist who ruled against his asylum policy as an "Obama judge". In response, Roberts asserted that "[w]e do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them." His remarks were widely interpreted as a rebuke of President Trump's comments. As Chief Justice, Roberts presided over the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, which began on January 16 and ended on February 5, 2020.


title: John Roberts

text: Although Roberts is identified as having a conservative judicial philosophy, Roberts is seen as having a more moderate conservative orientation, particularly when "Bush v. Gore" is compared to Roberts's vote for the ACA: his vote in "National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius" to uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) caused the press to contrast his Court with the Rehnquist Court. Roberts's judicial philosophy is seen as more moderate and conciliatory than Antonin Scalia's and Clarence Thomas's. He wishes more consensus from the Court. Roberts's voting pattern is most closely aligned to Samuel Alito's.


title: John Roberts

text: After the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett, several commentators wrote that Roberts was no longer the leading justice. As the five other conservative justices could outvote the rest, he supposedly could no longer preside over a moderately conservative course while respecting precedent. This view was espoused again after the 2022 "Dobbs" decision, which overturned rulings from 1973 and 1992.


title: John Roberts

text: On January 17, 2006, Roberts dissented along with Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas in "Gonzales v. Oregon", which held that the Controlled Substances Act does not allow the United States attorney general to prohibit physicians from prescribing drugs for the assisted suicide of the terminally ill as permitted by an Oregon law. The point of contention in the case was largely one of statutory interpretation, not federalism.


title: John Roberts

text: On March 6, 2006, Roberts wrote the unanimous decision in "Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights" that colleges accepting federal money must allow military recruiters on campus, despite university objections to the Clinton Administration-initiated "don't ask, don't tell" policy.


title: John Roberts

text: Following his concurrence in "Citizens United v. FEC" (2010), Roberts wrote the majority decision for another landmark campaign finance case called "McCutcheon v. FEC" (2014). In "McCutcheon" the Court ruled that "aggregate limits" on the combined amount a donor could give to various federal candidates or party committees violated the First Amendment.