History of the Courts Publications
Calmly to Poise the Scales of Justice:
A History of the Courts of the District of Columbia Circuit
by Jeffrey Brandon Morris
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The Historical Society of the D.C. Circuit
Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse
333 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 4714
Washington, D.C. 20001-2866
Discover the history of how the Court of Appeals became the chief tribunal for administrative law and where Presidents look when appointing Supreme Court justices, and why the District Court became principal venue for overseeing the federal government’s executive branch.
An Anecdotal History of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
By Matthew F. McGuire
District Court Judge Mathew F. McGuire produced a labor of love in 1976, which he called an “anecdotal history” of the District Court. According to the preface, this is “not a dry recording of detailed minutiae” but rather a readable and exciting story of “the human drama of court trial.”
See pictures of the early chief judges and courthouses, and original documents written by by those who helped shape our legal system. Read stories that went down in infamy, like that of Mary Surrant and her part in conspiracy of John Wilkes Booths’ assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
History of The United States Court of Appeals for The District of Columbia Circuit in The Country’s Bicentennial Year
By E. Barrett Prettyman, Jr.
Another history sheds a light on the Court of Appeals. It was written and published in 1976 with the assistance of the Young Lawyers Section of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia.
Read how in 1893 the first case ever before the Court of Appeals, Bush v. District of Columbia, began a tradition of the court that the first decision was not unanimous, or how in 1923, Justice Van Orsdel wrote the standard assessing the admissibility of polygraph testimony and expert scientific evidence in Frye v. United States.
Soul of the Court:
The Trailblazing Life of Judge William Benson Bryant, Sr.
By Tonya Bolden
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Judge William Benson Bryant, Sr. was a trailblazing D.C. attorney and judge who served with great distinction on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia from 1965 to 2005. His contribution to the court was so significant that the 2005 courthouse Annex is named in his honor. Initiated and sponsored by the Historical Society, this is the first full-length biography of Judge Bryant. Written by award-winning author Tonya Bolden, it narrates the story of a life of compassion, unparalleled integrity, and unwavering belief in the dignity of every human being.
The book is available for online orders at multiple online locations, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and University Press of Mississippi.
Now On Exhibit:
The History of the Courts of the D.C. Circuit
Created amidst the controversy over President John Adams’s appointment of the so-called “Midnight Judges,” the Courts of the District of Columbia Circuit have been transformed and transformative over the two centuries of their existence.
The Contribution of the D.C. Circuit
to Administrative Law
40 Ad. L. Rev. 507
The 1987 program that examined the special role and contribution the D.C. Circuit has made to the development of administrative law with keynote by Judge Patricia Wald and contributors Professor Jeremy Rabkin, Lloyd Cutler and Paul Verkuil.