Hon. Arthur Raymond Randolph, Jr.

Summary of the Oral History of Judge Arthur Raymond Randolph, Jr.

By Elizabeth Runyan Geise

The oral history of Judge Arthur Raymond Randolph discusses the remarkable legal career of a man who grew up in modest circumstances in rural New Jersey, but went on to clerk for Judge Henry Friendly on the Second Circuit, serve two stints in the U.S. Solicitor General’s office, litigate cases for several years in prior practice, and then cap his career as a judge on the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (1990-present, assuming senior status in 2008). The oral history was taken in four sessions between March 2002 and March 2004 by E. Barrett Prettyman, Jr., who himself is the subject of an oral history conducted by the Historical Society of the D.C. Circuit.

Judge Randolph was born on November 1, 1943. He grew up in rural New Jersey – near Palmyra and Glendora, next door to Big Timber Creek and close to the largest dairy farm in the state. His dad worked as a machinist and was president of the local union; his mother worked in a local dress shop. When it came time for college, Columbia offered Judge Randolph a wrestling scholarship. But when he realized that the scholarship would pay only $400 of the $1600 annual cost at Columbia, he ended up at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Drexel not only offered Judge Randolph a scholarship, it also had a co-op program that allowed students to work full-time for six months at a time, completing college in five years rather than four. Judge Randolph’s co-op job was at a General Motors plant near Trenton, where he eventually worked in the labor relations department due to his skill at settling disputes between management and the workers.

Judge Randolph graduated from Drexel with a degree in engineering and economics. But he decided on law school after reading Felix Frankfurter Reminisces, an oral history of Supreme Court Justice Frankfurter. Because Judge Randolph wanted to keep a summer job at GM, he looked only at nearby law schools. He ended up at the University of Pennsylvania even though Villanova offered a larger scholarship. He initially thought he was “out of [his] league” at Penn, since he was “a poor boy from a rural background without any kind of great intellectual training….” But those concerns were obviously misplaced. Judge Randolph was first in his class all three years in law school, and was managing editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. He graduated summa cum laude.

After graduation, Judge Randolph clerked for Judge Henry Friendly on the Second Circuit, a job he obtained because he was recommended by two Penn professors – Paul Mishkin and Tony Amsterdam. Judge Randolph described Judge Friendly as “the most brilliant person” he had “ever encountered” and whose judicial philosophy was to “work his way” through a problem “in trying to get the thing right.” Judge Friendly wrote his own opinions – completing drafts, no matter what the length, in a day — but then put the draft in “The Cooler” for a few days. “The Cooler” was a file where the draft sat while Judge Friendly thought over the issues some more. When asked the most valuable thing he got from clerking for Judge Friendly, Judge Randolph replied that “[i]t [was] impossible to be intimidated by anyone again.”

After his clerkship and with Judge Friendly’s recommendation, Judge Randolph obtained a position with the U.S. Solicitor General’s office. He stayed there for three years (1970-73) and argued several cases. After he left the SG’s office, Judge Randolph joined a small D.C. firm, Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin, which he chose because he liked the firm’s size and its “wonderful reputation.” The firm “had more Watergate clients than any firm in town.” These clients included President Nixon himself, Attorney General Richard Kleindienst, and several aides to Nixon advisors H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman.

Although he enjoyed private practice, Judge Randolph returned to the SG’s office in 1975 when he was recruited as a Deputy Solicitor General to Robert Bork. Judge Randolph recalled Bork as “an absolute delight to work with” and a “great delegator,” in contrast to Erwin Griswold, who was the Solicitor General during Judge Randolph’s first tour in the SG’s office. Judge Randolph related several stories about his time in the SG’s office. He participated in several significant cases, including Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents, which involved constitutional claims against federal law enforcement agents, Buckley v. Valeo, which concerned campaign finance regulation, and Gregg v. Georgia, which involved the death penalty. He worked with several younger lawyers who went on to become federal judges, including Ed Korman, Danny Boggs, and Frank Easterbook, and also future Labor Secretary Robert Reich. Judge Randolph never did a moot court before any argument because he was concerned it “would take away spontaneity.” He prepared for his first Supreme Court argument with index cards. But the cards slid down a rather steep lectern during the argument and he could not see any of them. After that, Judge Randolph prepared by writing out on several pages his entire argument with record cites, which allowed him to pivot to various issues as they came up during questioning.

After President Carter’s election in 1976, Judge Randolph returned to private practice, forming a small firm. In 1987, Judge Randolph and one of his partners were retained in some larger cases where they needed more manpower. So they decided to merge their firm into Pepper, Hamilton. In the 1980s, Judge Randolph taught law as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, and also served as Special Counsel to the House Ethics Committee. He also represented, on a pro bono basis, Rasheeda Moore, the government informant who smoked crack with D.C. Mayor Marion Barry in a D.C. hotel room in January 1990.

In 1990, Judge Randolph was asked by the Bush administration if he had any interest in becoming a judge. He initially said no because, with two children in private school, he thought he could not afford to leave private practice. But his wife convinced him that he could do it, and he was sworn in as a judge on the D.C. Circuit in July 1990.

Judge Randolph discussed some of his experiences as a judge. He finds judging to be “challenging,” particularly in complicated regulatory cases, which require that he get into the technical issues deeply enough to make a sound ruling. In his view, oral argument is very useful.

Argument “concentrates the mind,” and “many times” he changed his mind about a case as a result of the argument. Rather than spending time talking about cases, he is “a great believer in the power of writing to concentrate [the] analysis.” He discussed “the plain meaning doctrine,” which, quoting Justice Felix Frankfurter, he described as a “theory [that] survive[d] long after its brains have been knocked out.” Instead, he has “no problem” in looking at legislative history to get the background and context as to what Congress intended in enacting a statute. Judge Randolph also discussed some of his most memorable cases, including Odah v. United States, which concerned whether federal courts had jurisdiction over claims by Guantanamo prisoners, and the so-called “Naked Flyers” case (Lindsey v. National Traffic Safety Board), which involved whether the evidence before an administrative judge established that an inebriated pilot had actually flown a small plane between two regional airports while wearing no clothes.

This oral history is a captivating account of a lawyer and judge who has been active in the D.C. bar for the past 55 years. It is well worth reading.