The History of the D.C. Circuit Courts
1905
- Read about the judges and history of Chief Judge Shepard's Courts from 1905 to 1907.
The Shepard Courts 1905 -1907
Read about the judges and history of Chief Judge Shepard's Courts from 1905 to 1907.
1914
- Read about the judges and history of Chief Justice J. Harry Covington's Courts from 1914 to 1918.
The Covington Courts 1914 – 1918
Read about the judges and history of Chief Justice J. Harry Covington's Courts from 1914 to 1918.
1917
- Read about the judges and history of Chief Judge Smyth's Court in 1917.
The Smyth Court 1917
Read about the judges and history of Chief Judge Smyth's Court in 1917.
1918
- Read about the judges and history of Chief Justice Walter McCoy's Courts from 1918 to 1929.
The McCoy Courts 1918 – 1929
Read about the judges and history of Chief Justice Walter McCoy's Courts from 1918 to 1929.
1921
1922
In July 2009, Almost 200 people listened intently as Roger M. Adelman and William D. Nussbaum made closing arguments drawn directly from the transcripts of two of the Teapot Dome trials (United States v. Albert Fall and United States v. Edward Doheny), arguments that were actually made by defense counsel Frank Hogan and Special Prosecutor and future Supreme Court Justice Owen J. Roberts years ago.
Timeless Elements of a Great Closing Argument: Lessons from the Teapot Dome Trials
In July 2009, Almost 200 people listened intently as Roger M. Adelman and William D. Nussbaum made closing arguments drawn directly from the transcripts of two of the Teapot Dome trials (United States v. Albert Fall and United States v. Edward Doheny), arguments that were actually made by defense counsel Frank Hogan and Special Prosecutor and future Supreme Court Justice Owen J. Roberts years ago.
1924
- Read about the judges and history of Chief Judge Martin's Courts from 1924 to 1935.
The Martin Courts 1924-1935
Read about the judges and history of Chief Judge Martin's Courts from 1924 to 1935.
- In 1924 Albert H. Fall became the first cabinet-level official convicted and imprisoned for a felony offense committed while in office during the Teapot Dome Scandal.
Teapot Dome, 1924–1931
In 1924 Albert H. Fall became the first cabinet-level official convicted and imprisoned for a felony offense committed while in office during the Teapot Dome Scandal.
1930
- Read about the judges and history of Chief Justice Alfred A. Wheat's Courts from 1930 to 1941.
The Wheat Courts 1930 – 1941
Read about the judges and history of Chief Justice Alfred A. Wheat's Courts from 1930 to 1941.
1933
- Thirty-one year old Robert Martin of Little Elm, Texas, doesn't remember what he paid for them. As a teenager, he bought two presidential documents at a thrift shop near Houston that no one else seemed to want - one bearing the signature of Franklin Roosevelt and the other, of Harry Truman.
A Texas-sized Mystery
Thirty-one year old Robert Martin of Little Elm, Texas, doesn't remember what he paid for them. As a teenager, he bought two presidential documents at a thrift shop near Houston that no one else seemed to want - one bearing the signature of Franklin Roosevelt and the other, of Harry Truman.
How a Pay Dispute Elevated the D.C. Circuit
It wasn't until 1933 that the U.S. District Court and U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia achieved equal stature with their counterparts in the rest of the country.
1937
- Read about the judges and history of Chief Judge Groner's Courts from 1937 to 1945.
The Groner Courts 1937 -1945
Read about the judges and history of Chief Judge Groner's Courts from 1937 to 1945.
1937
End of an Era
Regarded as a high water mark of laissez faire capitalism, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1922 nullified a D.C. minimum wage law guaranteeing women hotel and hospital workers at least 34-and-a-half cents an hour or $16.50 a week.
1938
Path to a Judgeship
Being an active member of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia was Bolitha "Bo" Laws' path to a judgeship in the U.S. District Court in 1938. The Association's Journal carried his photograph after he became Bar President.
1939
Invitation to Red Mass
Each fall near the beginning of the Supreme Court's term, several Justices and other members of the Washington legal community attend the Red Mass at St. Matthew's Cathedral. "An invitation to a Red Mass" published in the Journal of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia in 1939 sheds light on the origins and history of the service and its association with the judiciary.
Justice Wiley Rutledge: Court of Appeals Years – and After
In 1939, Wiley Blount Rutledge, Jr. -- the runner-up that year to Felix Frankfurter, then William O. Douglas, for a seat on the Supreme Court – was nominated by Franklin Roosevelt to a newly created sixth seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
The Attorney General’s Pants
Frederick Tyler takes us back to the early 1900s in "The Attorney General's Pants." When the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia urgently needed to hire a private detective to chase a miscreant but had no appropriation to pay one, he turned to Attorney General Philander C. Knox for help with surprising results.
1940
History and Evolution of the D.C. Circuit Courts
Visitors to the Historical Society's website will now be able to learn more about the unique character and history of the courts of the D.C. Circuit.
- The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit didn't always give unconditional obeisance to the U.S. Supreme Court when it believed an injustice would result.
Doing Justice
The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit didn't always give unconditional obeisance to the U.S. Supreme Court when it believed an injustice would result.
On the Docket: Flapjacks and Underwear
The post-World War One Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia was vastly different than the federal circuit court we know today. In its 1918-19 term, half of its cases involved local disputes and the remainder were almost entirely patent and trademark appeals.
1941
Times Have Changed!
By the mid-20th century, it had become apparent that the United States District Court for the District of Columbia had long outgrown its "completely outmoded and cramped" accommodations. A new courthouse was desperately needed, argued F. Regis Noel in a January 1941 article in the Journal of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia.
1942
- Eight German saboteurs reached New York and Florida by submarine, intending to use explosives to destroy factories and other strategic targets.
Eight Nazi Saboteurs, 1942
Eight German saboteurs reached New York and Florida by submarine, intending to use explosives to destroy factories and other strategic targets.
1942
Journal of the Bar Association October 1942
"Something has gone wrong with the world of our day" - a "strange and disordered darkness of spirit" had descended upon humanity. So intoned Solicitor General Charles Fahy in early 1942, in an address before the Georgia Bar Association. In his speech, Fahy - who later served for nearly thirty years on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit - surveyed the globe, from Poland to Greece, from Denmark to England.
1943
The Short Unhappy Judgeship of Thurman Arnold
Thurman Wesley Arnold was one of the most intriguing individuals ever to serve on the D.C. Circuit although the vast majority of his accomplishments occurred before and after his brief service on the D.C. Circuit from 1943-45.
1944
Judge Prettyman on Administrative Law
In his article "Administrative Law - Problem Child" in the Journal of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia, Court of Appeals Judge E. Barrett Prettyman in 1944 advanced the decidedly non-judicial proposition that many problems in administrative law can be solved by cooperation between the bar and the agencies.
1945
- Read about the judges and history of Chief Judge Bolitha J. Laws' Courts from 1945 to 1958.
The Laws Courts 1945 – 1958
Read about the judges and history of Chief Judge Bolitha J. Laws' Courts from 1945 to 1958.
1946
An Historic Judicial Smackdown
As the nation moved from World War II to a peacetime economy, industry sought the removal of wartime price and production controls. Labor, freed from a freeze on pay and a ban on strikes, sought wage increases averaging 30 percent. Strikes broke out like a contagion. Within a year, five million workers were involved in work stoppages.
1947
Seeing Red: The D.C. Circuit and the Hollywood Ten
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia played a major role in the post-World War Two anti-Communist crusades and the Hollywood Ten .
1948
- Read about the judges and history of Chief Judge Stephen's Courts from 1948 to 1954.
The Stephens Courts 1948-1954
Read about the judges and history of Chief Judge Stephen's Courts from 1948 to 1954.
1950
- American Mildred Elizabeth Gillars achieved infamy by broadcasting Nazi propaganda over the radio airwaves from Germany to audiences in Europe and America during World War II.
“Axis Sally,” 1950
American Mildred Elizabeth Gillars achieved infamy by broadcasting Nazi propaganda over the radio airwaves from Germany to audiences in Europe and America during World War II.
Alan S. Rosenthal Recalls Brown v. Board of Education and Some Notable Solicitors General
The courageous Solicitor Generals and Attorney Generals in Alan Rosenthal’s oral history bring to mind the tribute to Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird where Reverend Sykes tells the lawyer’s daughter: “Jean Louise, stand up. Your father’s passing.” Writer Judy Feign, who took the oral history and writes about it, calls the lawyers “titanic.”
1950
Only two days after tens of thousands of troops from the North launched the surprise invasion that would become the Korean War, President Harry S. Truman helped lay the cornerstone for what would become the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse.
Dedication of the US Courthouse for the District of Columbia
Only two days after tens of thousands of troops from the North launched the surprise invasion that would become the Korean War, President Harry S. Truman helped lay the cornerstone for what would become the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse.
1950
Segregation in the Washington, D.C. Federal Courthouse
Four years after the Supreme Court's rejection of racial segregation in the historic 1954 Brown v. Board decision, the whites-only Bar Association of the District of Columbia still had its library in rent-free space in the Prettyman courthouse.
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.
Visit the exhibit to learn how the D.C. Circuit Courts were formed and the challenges overcome in their creation.
Calmly to Poise The Scales of Justice:
A History of the Courts of the D.C. Circuit
Purchase the book now for $30
or send a check to:
The Historical Society of the D.C. Circuit
Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse
333 Constitution Ave NW, Room 4714
Washington, D.C. 20001