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The Politics of Appointment and the Federal Courts' Role in Regulating America: U.S. Courts of Appeals Judgeships from T.R. to F.D.R.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

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Abstract

Historians and political scientists have noted that appointments of judges to the U.S. Courts of Appeals are not determined by senatorial courtesy alone. What has not been adequately explained is why and when a president defers to a senator's choice rather than seek to control the selection. This article attempts to understand the politics of federal appellate court appointments. The author first identifies a major change in the work of the courts of appeals during the years 1900-1945—the growth in review of the actions of newly created federal regulatory agencies. Then, by examining Justice Department files and presidential correspondence, he discoveres three patterns of appointment emerging in the same period. The patterns vary with presidential perceptions of the role of the federal government and of the courts of appeals' ability to affect accomplishment of administration goals. Appointments during the first years of the presidencies of Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt and during the Harding and Coolidge administrations were dominated by patronage concerns. Those administrations yielded to the recommendations of senators and demonstrated no interest in the policy-making potential of these courts. In the two other patterns the White House played a more active role, with senators more often deferring to the president's selection. Concerns about professionalism dominated selections in Taft's and Hoover's administrations: because they recognized the policy importance of those judgeships but saw the role of government as limited, they sought judicial craftsmen who would make policy only incrementally. Policy concerns dominated selections during Wilson's administration and the latter years of both the Roosevelts' administrations: Justice Department officials screened nominees to determine their policy orientation, because federal appellate court judgeships were perceived as crucial policy positions that could affect the president's ability to implement his reform programs.

Type
Research Articles
Copyright
Copyright © American Bar Foundation, 1984 

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References

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7 This study is the first part of a larger study of the jurisprudence of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The important questions of the relationships between the process of election and judicial performance will be examined in later articles.Google Scholar

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54 The figures are taken from a workload study of the Seventh Circuit prepared for this project. I have examined the jurisdictional source of all reported appeals decided between 1891 and 1945.Google Scholar

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93 Text accompanying notes 83–85 supra.Google Scholar

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102 On the factions in the Illinois Democratic party see Carter H. Harrison, Stormy Years: The Autobiography of Carter H. Harrison, Five Times Mayor of Chicago (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1935). See also Roger Sullivan to Col. E. M. House, Dec. 20, 1913; Justice Dept. memo dictated after conversation with Sen. J. H. Lewis, Apr. 18, 1913, both in Dept. Just. Files, supra note 69.Google Scholar

103 Memo, William Fitts to Att'y Gen. Gregory, July 1, 1915, at 6, Dept. Just. Files, supra note 69.Google Scholar

104 Id. at 5. Alschuler was a Jew and the first Jew appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals. The Alschuler appointment, a year before Brandeis's, went through the Senate without controversy. The only Jews to have been appointed to the federal bench before Alschuler were Jacob Trieber of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas (1900) and Julian Mack of the U.S. Commerce Court (1911). Mack served on the Seventh, Sixth, and Second circuits following the abolition of the Commerce Court. On Alschuler's legislative career see Aurora Beacon J., Nov. 9, 1939, at 2; Samuel Alschuler to D. E. Ellis, Dec. 30, 1914, Alschuler Collection, Illinois State Historical Society, Springfield.Google Scholar

105 Memo, Att'y Gen. Gregory to W. Wilson, n.d., Wilwn Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar

106 State J. (Madison), Apr. 23, 1916, at 1; Milwaukee Sentinel, Apr. 26, 1916, at I; Kewaunee Enterprise, Apr. 28. 1916, at 3; Portage Democrat, Apr. 24, 1916, at 1; memo, William C. Fitts to Gregory, Feb. 1, 1916, Dept. Just. Files, supra note 69. In addition there is useful correspondence documenting the split in the Wisconsin party in the Robert M. La Follette Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar

107 Fitts memo, supra note 106, at 3–7, 23–24.Google Scholar

108 Id. at 13.Google Scholar

109 Id. at 21.Google Scholar

110 Id. at 18–19. Note that if the administration had sought the most professionally competent judge and had placed a premium on elevating district judges, they could have promoted Geiger, as Taft had and Hoover would promote district judger. Geiger's professional abilities were attested to eight years later when Judge Julian Mack recommended him to Att'y Gen. Harlan Stone for promotion. Stone, memo of conversation with Judge Mack, Apr. 13, 1924, Dept. Just. Files, supra note 69.Google Scholar

111 Fitts memo, supra note 106, at 8–9. See also Robert S. Maxwell, La Follette and the Rise of the Progressives in Wisconsin 77 (n.p.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1956).Google Scholar

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113 Id. at 14–15,Google Scholar

114 See newspaper articles cited in note 106 supra.Google Scholar

115 Fitts memo, supra note 106, at 27; also the following, found in Wilson Papers, supra note 105: Joe Davies to Joseph Tumulty, Aug. 26, 1915; John Aylward to Tumulty, Feb. 5, 1916; memo, Thomas Gregory to Evan Evans, n.d.; Wilson to Gregory, Apr. 21, 1916.Google Scholar

116 Roger Sullivan to Joseph Tumulty, Feb. 28, 1918; Sullivan to W. Wilson, Feb. 17, 1919. In his letter to Woodrow Wilson, Feb. 28, 1919, Tumulty told the president that “[Sullivan] said this is one thing he wants and that his whole heart is set on the appointment [of Lucey].” The letters above are in Wilson Papers, supra note 105.Google Scholar

117 Memo, Samuel Graham to T. Gregory, Nov. 25, 1918, at 2–3, Dept. Just. Files, supra note 69.Google Scholar

118 See letters cited in note 116 supra. In Wilson's letter to Tumulty, Mar. 1, 1919, Wilson Papers, supra note 105, he explained that he could not let Sullivan or politics dictate this appointment because he had found a superior nominee. “Sincerely as I would like to gratify Sullivan I cannot in conscience see my way to doing it.” Page was nominated the same day.Google Scholar

119 Memo, supra note 103.Google Scholar

120 Chi. Tribune, Jan. 4, 1919, at 4; N.Y. Times, Mar. 27, 1919, at 1; Chi. Tribune, Mar. 2, 1919, at 1; The Army Lawyer: A History of the Judge Advocate General's Corps, 1775–1975, at 125–38 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1976).Google Scholar

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122 Link, supra note 97, at 162.Google Scholar

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126 See letter cited in note 99 supra. The Gregory Papers, supra note 99, contain many letters between Batts and Gregory that demonstrate the closeness of their professional and personal relationship and the degree to which Gregory relied on Batts for legal and political advice.Google Scholar

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128 On N.Y. politics see John J. Broesamle, William Gibbs McAdoo: A Passion for Change: 1863–1917, at 71–72, 83–93 (Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1973); Papers of Woodrow Wilson, supra note 123, vol. 36: January-May 1916, ed. David W. Hirst et al., at 380–81 (1981); Link, supra note 97, at 164–73. Memo, Samuel Graham to T. Gregory, Jan. 28, 1916; Joseph Tumulty to Gregory, Dec. 14, 1915; William McAdoo to Gregory, Feb. 7, 1916; Joseph Day to W. Wilson, Feb. 11, 1916–-all in Dept. Just. Files, supra note 69. Henry Morgenthau to Wilson, July 10, 1916, Wilson Papers, supra note 105; N.Y. Times, Feb. 9, 1916, at 3; id., Apr. 28, 1916, at 4.Google Scholar

129 See note 84 supra and accompanying text.Google Scholar

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132 N.Y. Times, Aug. 16, 1916, at 4; id., Mar. 13, 1918, at 4; Schick, supra note 5, at 5–6,62–63. On Manton's corruption and scandal see Joseph Borkin, The Corrupt Judge: An Inquiry into Bribery and Other High Crimes and Misdemeanors in the Federal Courts 23–93 (New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1962).Google Scholar

133 One appointee was Charles Johnson of Maine to the First Circuit, for whom Wilson received recommendations from many senators, congressmen, and party officials. As one said, “[Johnson] always took a deep interest in and supported all legislation favorable to the administration.” William Ingraham to Wilson, Sept. 29, 1917. Wilson sent the letters to Gregory and asked for his opinion. Wilson to Gregory, Sept. 19, 1917. The other was Nathan Bryan of Florida to the Fifth Circuit in 1920. Memo, W. M. Palmer to Woodrow Wilson, Apr. 20, 1920. The letters and memo are in Wilson Papers, supra note 105. Frank Clark to Wilson, Aug. 6, 1919, Dept. Just. Files, supra note 69.Google Scholar

134 Wilson to James McReynolds, Mar. 13, 1913, Wilson Papers, supra note 105. Note that in rewarding a friend the president justifies the selection on the candidate's policy positions. Compare this with Harding and Coolidge, text accompanying notes 194 and 202 infra.Google Scholar

135 Memo, Samuel Graham to Gregory, Nov. 24, 1916, Dept. Just. Files, supra note 69; telegram, Frank Thompson to W. Wilson, Nov. 12, 1916; memo, Gregory to Wilson, n.d.; Wilson to William Stone, Nov. 22, 1916–-telegram and letters in Wilson Papers, supra note 105.Google Scholar

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137 Chase, supra note 6, at 12 (quoting Dean Acheson, Morning and Noon 212 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1%5)). Acheson did refuse the appointment.Google Scholar

138 Burke, supra note 40, at 225. Burke states further on: “A number of Roosevelt's nominees were accepted by the senators without enthusiasm and only after political pressure had been applied.” Id. at 238. Burke dates the period of the importance of ideology in courts of appeals appointments as 1935–40. Id. at 245–46. However, in 1935–36 F.D.R. made six appointments to the appeals courts. With insufficient information on one of the six, Burke's account of the others attributes three to senatorial politics, says one enjoyed the support of both his senator and F.D.R.'s patronage chief, Jim Farley, and characterizes only Clifton Mathews, U.S. attorney in Arizona, as an ideological choice.Google Scholar

139 Goldman, supra note 6, at 203–11.Google Scholar

140 The ten were identified from the information in Senate Committee on the Judiciary, supra note 40.Google Scholar

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142 Memo, Asst. Att'y Gen. Dan McGrath to Att'y Gen. Homer Cummings, Apr. 27, 1933; memo for William Stanley, Apr. 27, 1933; Cummings to F. Roosevelt, June 3, 1933; J. Hamilton Lewis & William Dieterich to F. Roosevelt, June 15, 1933; Newton Jenkins to Louis FitzHenry, July 6, 1933–-all in Federal Records Center, St. Louis, Mo. FitzHenry's self-promotion campaign, beginning in 1928, is documented in the voluminous correspondence in the FitzHenry Collection, supra note 58. For a description of FitzHenry's industry and toughness, see Daily Pantagraph (Bloomington, III.), Feb. 18, 1925, at 2; id., Nov. 19, 1935, at 5. His docket was kept clear enough to allow him to be designated by the chief justice to assist the Southern District of N.Y. in clearing its backlog.Google Scholar

143 Burke, supra note 40, at 220–21.Google Scholar

144 N.Y. Times, Mar. 10, 1937, at 1; Chi. Tribune, Mar. 10, 1937, at 13. Dieterich wanted to promote Major to make room on the district court for a retiring U.S. representative, J. Leroy Adair. Major had been described in 1933 by one New Dealer as, “a fairly decent fellow, … not exactly the type of man Roosevelt might be expected to appoint to the Federal bench.” Newton Jenkins to Sec'y of the Interior Harold L. Ickes, July 6, 1933, Fed. Records Center, supra note 142.Google Scholar

145 The attorneys general were Homer Cummings, 1933–39; Frank Murphy, 1939–40; Robert Jackson, 1940–41; Francis Biddle, 1941–45.Google Scholar

Cummings is described by Peter Irons as “a Democratic party wheelhorse … a politician by temperament.” Irons, supra note 62, at 11. Irons portrays him as the leading architect of the court-packing plan that F.D.R. sent to Congress. Id. at 197, 275–76.Google Scholar

146 See notes 137–38 supra and accompanying text.Google Scholar

147 Cummings to Roosevelt, July 13, 1938, FDR Papers, supra note 141.Google Scholar

148 Memo, Sherman Minton to Homer Cummings, Aug. 9, 1937, Fed. Records Center, supra note 142; Indianapolis Star, Dec. 7, 1937, at I; Chi. Tribune, Dec. 9, 1937, at 1; id., Dec. 12, 1937, at I; id., Dec. 13, 1937, at I; Cummings to Roosevelt, Dec. 7, 1937, FDR Papers, supra note 141. For a sample of Treanor's writings see Book Review, 40 Harv. L. Rev. 664 (1927); Book Review, 78 U. Pa. L. Rev. 288 (1929); Burden of Proof of Due Course Holding Under Negotiable Instruments Law, 1 Ind. L.J. 49 (1926); Comment on address by Hon. Henry Hanna, The Common Law in Ireland, in The Future of the Common Law 233 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1937). Treanor was a friend and admirer of Roscoe Pound, who invited him to be one of the speakers at the Conference on the Future of the Common Law, part of Harvard's tercentenary celebration. The Treanor appointment was controversial because it was one of the instances when a president moved an appointment from one state to another; when Illinois Democrats remained deadlocked over two candidates, the attorney general decided to shift the appointment to Indiana. Congress had created a new judgeship, and a deal was finally arranged whereby the New Deal liberals, led by Gov. Henry Homer, would have Lt. Gov. Otto Kerner named to the Seventh Circuit, and the regular party, led by Chicago mayor Edward J. Kelly, would get Mike Igoe named to the district court. Although political considerations were paramount in Kerner's selection, it should be noted that Cummings selected the more liberal candidate for the court of appeals position.Google Scholar

149 Koeniger, A. Cash, The New Deal and the States: Roosevelt Versus the Byrd Organization in Virginia, 68 J. Am. Hist. 876, 886–93 (1982).Google Scholar

150 William O. Douglas to F. Roosevelt, Jan. 3, 1941, FDR Papers, supra note 141 (arranging Frank appointment). Richard Kirkendall, Sherman Minton, in Friedman & Israel, supra note 71, vol. 4, at 2696, 2700. See Irons, supra note 62, for the role of these men in their agencies.Google Scholar

151 Burke, supra note 40, at 263.Google Scholar

152 Kenneth McKeller to F. Roosevelt, Oct. 17, 1938, FDR Papers, supra note 141 (emphasis in original).Google Scholar

153 Id. Martin had written the trial court opinion in Ashwander v. TVA, 297 U.S. 288 (1936).Google Scholar

154 Burke, supra note 40, at 263.Google Scholar

155 Donald F. Anderson, William Howard Taft: A Conservative's Conception of the Presidency (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1973); Paolo E. Coletta, The Presidency of William Howard Taft (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1973); J. Anderson, supra note 51; Henry F. Pringle, The Life and Times of William Howard Taft (2 vols. New York: Farrar & Rinehard, 1939); Herbert S. Duffy, William Howard Taft (New York: Minton, Balch & Co., 1930).Google Scholar

156 D. Anderson, supra note 155, at 305.Google Scholar

157 Id. at 168. But note another writer's comment: Yet Taft did not fully accept the judicial myth which permeated so much contemporary conservative political thought. Although he was perfectly able to accept and even expound the priestly role of the judge as a dispenser of sacred doctrine, he was not able to endorse the view that it was the Constitution, not the judge, which spoke through judicial decisions. In 1913 Taft had argued that judges had to adapt law to meet new conditions. “Indeed,” he stated. “it is one of the highest and most useful functions that courts have to perform in making a government of law practical and uniformly just.” The next year he was even more explicit: “Judges are men. Courts are composed of judges and one would be foolish who would deny that courts and judges are affected by the times in which they live.”Google Scholar

Walter F. Murphy, In His Own Image: Mr. Chief Justice Taft and Supreme Court Appointments, 1961 Sup. Ct. Rev. 159, 161 (footnotes omitted).Google Scholar

158 Alpheus Thomas Mason, William Howard Taft: Chief Justice 178 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1965).Google Scholar

159 D. Anderson, supra note 155, at 168. Taft wrote, “I'll be damned if I put any man on this bench of whose character and ability there is the least doubt.” Id.Google Scholar

160 Murphy, supra note 157, at 162.Google Scholar

161 Mason also quotes Taft as telling an endorser of a candidate, “Tell me what Judge Tucker's age is, what his experience has been and what his politics are.” Mason, supra note 158, at 177. It should be emphasized that these policy concerns were expressed after Taft's term as president, when splits had developed within his party and after Brandeis and Clarke, Wilson's Supreme Court appointees, had in Taft's opinion shown themselves to be result-oriented liberals. Murphy, supra note 157, at 163–64. The intra-party split with Roosevelt was in part triggered by T.R.'s attacks on the judiciary and by such proposals as judicial recall. Thus during most of his four years as president, Taft was not at odds with his party over the policy question of the role of the judiciary. See D. Anderson, supra note lS5, at 229–33; Garraty, supra note 67, at 288–91.Google Scholar

162 George Pepper to Taft, Mar. 23, 1909; George Wickersham to Frederick Lewis, Apr. 10, 1909–-both in Dept. Just. Files, supra note 69; George Wharton Pepper, Philadelphia Lawyer: An Autobiography 89 (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1944); Memorial Issue to George Wharton Pepper, 34 Pa. B.A.Q. 7–146 (1962).Google Scholar

163 Memo, CBS [Charles B. Sornborger] to Att'y Gen. George Wickersham, Mar. 25, 1909; Wickersham to Taft, Mar. 24, 1909–-both in Dept. Just. Files, supra note 69.Google Scholar

164 George Gray to Taft, Mar. 26, 1909; Taft to Wickersham, Mar. 29, 1909–-both in Dept. Just. Files, supra note 69.Google Scholar

165 The Pam-Taft correspondence is found in the Taft Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. See particularly Taft to Max Pam, July 19, 1912, and Taft's secretary Charles Hilles to Pam, Dec. 18, 1912. See also sources in note 101 supra.Google Scholar

166 Max Pam to Taft, Dec. 12, 1912, Taft Papers, supra note 165.Google Scholar

167 Taft to George Carpenter, Dec. 19, 1912, Taft Papers, supra note 165.Google Scholar

168 Id. See also Taft to William Mason, Dec. 18, 1912, Taft Papers, supra note 165. “[I hoped] I might justify my own judgment in the selection of your son, and could I have appointed him it would have gratified me … and I should like to have delighted your father's heart. But these matters are of rigid conscience and I could not reach the conclusion … to send in your boy's name.” The Democrats managed to block confirmation of Carpenter, wanting to save the appointment for President-Elect Wilson. Carpenter remained on the district court, and Taft later sought to have him promoted, recommending him to Coolidge in 1924. See text at note 198 infra.Google Scholar

169 D. Anderson, supra note 155, at 169 (footnotes omitted).Google Scholar

170 George Wickersham to Franklin MacVeagh, Sec'y of the Treasury, Mar. 30, 191I, Dept. Just. Files, supra note 69. On Lodge's position in the 1912 election see Garraty, supra note 67, at 292–93.Google Scholar

171 Asa French to Wickersham, Apr. 4, 1911; Wickersham to French, Apr. 5, 1911; Guy Muschie to Wickersham, May 4, 1911; C. C. Burlingham to Wickersham, Mar. 17, 1911 (endorsing Dodge); Wickersham to Taft, Apr. 20, 1911–-all in Dept. Just. Files, supra note 69.Google Scholar

172 Wickersham to Samuel Powers, May 25, 1911; Powers to Wickersham, May 23, 1911. Asa French, U.S. attorney in Boston, stated that “Dodge is unquestionably the stronger man of the two.” French to Wickersham, May 21, 1911. The “blue slips” recommending Schofield are in the files. All items are in Dept. Just. Files, supra note 69.Google Scholar

173 Sen. W. M. Crane to Taft, July 3, 1912 (sending letter from him and Lodge requesting Dodge's appointment); Charles Hilles to Wickersham, July 10, 1912 (forwarding letter from senators to Taft and conveying Taft's desire to send Dodge's name to Senate as soon as possible)–-all in Dept. Just. Files, supra note 69.Google Scholar

174 Mason, supra note 158, at 188–89. Mason credits Taft with helping to convince Hoover to appoint Mitchell. See also Murphy, Walter F., Chief Justice Taft and the Lower Court Bureaucracy: A Study in Judicial Administration, 24 J. Pol. 453, 470–73 (1962). Mitchell's role in selecting lower court judges has been emphasized in Justin J. Green & John R. Schmidhauser, President Herbert Hoover and the Federal Judiciary: A Three Dimensional Assessment of the Uses of Nomination and Appointing Authority (unpublished paper, delivered at Seminar on the Presidency of Herbert Hoover, West Branch, Iowa, Aug. 7–9, 1974), Hoover Papers, Hoover Presidential Library, West Branch, Iowa.Google Scholar

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176 72 Cong Rec. 787 (1929) (remarks of Sen. La Follette quoting radio address by Mitchell).Google Scholar

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180 Mitchell, William D., Appointment of Federal Judges, 17 A.B.A. J. 569, 572 (1931).Google Scholar

181 Atlanta Const., Dec. 12, 1930, at I; memo for White House file regarding letter from J. T. Rose, Dec. 16, 1930; memo for White House file regarding letter from Henry Davis, Dec. 12, 1930 (“[Davis] says might appear unusual for Rep. organization favor advancement Democrat to position responsibility, but abilities, private and public record of Judge Sibley regarded as sufficient reason for unqualified endorsement of him”). Both memos are in Hoover Papers, supra note 174. However, Alabama and Florida Republicans were disgruntled. See Green & Schmidhauser, supra note 174.Google Scholar

182 Memo for White House file regarding phone conversation with Gov. Colquitt, n.d.; Orville Bullington to J. F. Lucey, June 28, 1930; Lucey to Walter Newton, July 28, 1930; R. B. Creager to Hoover, June 23, 1930 (Creager was Republican National Committeeman from Texas)–-all in Hoover Papers, supra note 174.Google Scholar

183 Ray Wilbur to Mitchell, Dec. 21, 1929, forwarding letter Paul Shoup to Wilbur, Dec. 13, 1929, which was forwarding letter J. H. Tallichet to Paul Shoup, Nov. 20, 1929, Hoover Papers, supra note 174. Tallichet's railroad had been enjoined by Hutcheson from interfering with the attempts of the Railway Brotherhood to organize company workers. Hous. Chron., Dec. 20, 1930, at 1.Google Scholar

184 Walter Newton to Capt. J. F. Lucey, July 11, 1930, Hoover Papers, supra note 174.Google Scholar

185 Tallichet letter, supra note 183.Google Scholar

186 Watson suggested a list of 15 names to the attorney general, with Sparks first on the list. James Watson to Mitchell, July 26, 1929, Fed. Records Center, supra note 142; Mitchell to Hoover, Oct. 18, 1929, Hoover Papers, supra note 174. Stephenson v. State, 205 Ind. 141 (1933). See also John Lewis Niblack, The Life and Times of a Hoosier Judge 174–76, 187–219 (1973); Irving Leibowitz, My Indiana 189, 194 (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1964); Kenneth T. Jackson, The Ku Klux Klan in the City: 1915–1930, at ch. 10 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967).Google Scholar

187 Walter Newton to Charles Sisson, June 28, 1930 (informing assistant attorney general that Strawn heard rumor of George Page's retirement from Seventh Circuit and urging Wilkerson's promotion); file memo, Walter Newton, Nov. 3, 1931. The labor pressure on senators can be seen in Newton's file memos of Nov. 17, 1931, and Apr. 16, 1932 (“Sen. Schall called by phone, saying that on account of the Labor boys laying down on him he will have to vote against Wi1kerson”)–-all in Hoover Papers, supra note 174. See The Nomination of James H. Wilkerson to Be United States Circuit Judge, Seventh Circuit: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 72d Cong., 1 st Sess. (1932). On Wilkerson and injunctions see Felix Frankfurter & Nathan Greene, The Labor Injunction 103, 253–63 (New York: Macmillan Co., 1930).Google Scholar

188 Burke, supra note 40, at 263–64, 218–19, 252.Google Scholar

189 Harris, supra note 5, at 115–16.Google Scholar

190 Daugherty served as attorney general from 1921 through March 1924. He was an Ohio Republican politician, a friend of Harding and his campaign manager. He is, of course, best known for being tarnished by the Teapot Dome scandal. He was forced to resign as attorney general, though not convicted at trial for his participation in the scandal. See James N. Giglio, H. M. Daugherty and the Politics of Expediency (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1978).Google Scholar

191 Senators W. Dillinghann & C. Page, congressmen F. Greene & P. Dale to Warren Harding, Apr. 16, 1921; Samuel Kornig to Charles Hilles, July 25, 1921; Sen. William Colder to Hilles, Aug. 1, 1921; Harry Daugherty to Hilles, Aug. 17, 1921; Hilles to Daugherty, Aug. 8, 1921–-all in Dept. Just. Files, supra note 69. N.Y. Times, June 25, 1921, at 5.Google Scholar

192 See notes 57–58 supra and accompanying text.Google Scholar

193 Charles F. Amidon to Daugherty, Aug. 12, 1921; Daugherty to Amidon, Aug. 22, 1921–-both in Dept. Just. Files, supra note 69. Den. Post, Aug. 26, 1921, at 14; id. Nov. 3, 1921, at 1.Google Scholar

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195 Text accompanying note 189 supra; Murray, supra note 194, at 125–28; Trani & Wilson, supra note 194, at 37–38.Google Scholar

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197 Chase, supra note 6, at 12 (quoting a letter from Hoover to Chase).Google Scholar

198 Memo to tile, Harlan F. Stone, Apr. 13, 1924, Dept. Just. Files, supra note 69.Google Scholar

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200 John Sargent to C. Coolidge, Apr. 6, 1927, Coolidge Papers, supra note 199.Google Scholar

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202 Burke, supra note 40, at 255–56; Donald R. McCoy, Calvin Coolidge: The Quiet President 120–21, 157 (New York: Macmillan Co., 1967); N.Y. Times, Jan. 20, 1929, at 3.Google Scholar

203 Mason, supra note 158, at 181–84. See also Alpheus Thomas Mason, Harlan Fiske Stone: Pillar of the Law (Hamden, Conn.: Shoestring Press, Archon Books, 1968).Google Scholar

204 Memo, Rush Holland to Harlan Stone, Dec. 13, 1924, Dept. Just. Files, supra note 69. Notice the absence of any evaluation of policy, unlike the Wilson or Roosevelt administration memos.Google Scholar

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206 Mason, supra note 158, at 181–82; memo, Stone to file regarding conference with W. H. Taft, Apr. 10, 1924; memo, Stone to file regarding conversation with Julian Mack, Apr. 13, 1924–-all in Dept. Just. Files, supra note 69.Google Scholar

207 Memo, Holland to Stone, May 3, 1924; id. May 21, 1924; id., Nov. 19, 1924–-all in Dept. Just. Files, supra note 69.Google Scholar

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209 Quoted in Mason, supra note 158, at 184. Mason states: “The doors Taft had sought to close against senatorial dictation now swung wide open.” Id.Google Scholar

210 Id. at 187–88; Murphy, supra note 174, at 468–69; N.Y. Times, May 20, 1927, at 7; id., May 21, 1927, at 19.Google Scholar

211 Rogers, supra note 44.Google Scholar

212 See Chase, supra note 6.Google Scholar

213 See text accompanying notes 209–10 supra.Google Scholar