PRESENTATION
of the
EDWARD J. DEVITT
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE TO JUSTICE
AWARD
m
HONORABLE GERHARD A. GESELL
District Judge, United States District Court
District of Columbia
Washington, D.C.
May 16, 1990
PRESENTATION
In presenting this award to Gerhard A. Gesell, we acknowledge his
devotion to bettering the lives of Americans through his distinguished work
on the federal bench. We also recognize Judge Gesell’s many cuntriiutions,to
improving the system of American jurisprudence for current and future
generations, as well as his example as a colleague, friend and mentor to many.
Judge Gesell’s impact on our justice system and the lives of Americans has
been profound and widespread. He possesses qualities of intelligence and
honesty, along with the drive to see justice carried out in an even-handed,
timely manner. It is rare to find all this in one human being and we will focus
on but a few of his many accomplishments and attri%utes.
COURTROOM SKILL
His skill on the bench, is first and foremost, widely regarded, perhaps even
legendary. One experienced trial lawyer of Washington, D.C.’s Stein, Mitchell
& Mezines he$s define this courtroom mastery:
I have tried a number of cases before Judge GeselL His wntrol of the
case is immediak He permits no exploration ofirrelevancies and the
lawyers are at once aware that a decisive and fair Judge has taken hold
of the case. His broad experience in litigation lets him see what is a bit
beyond the horizon He has never been bothered by Me problems that
plague other judges, discove y disputes. His muscular intelligence
strangles them.
T. Sumner Robinson, Associate Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of The Los
Angeles Daily Journal, who covered the U.S. District Court for many years,
remembers being awed by the judge’s style as he watched the Watergate
trials:
What remaim indelibly etched in my memory is his solemn and
unflinching style in disposing of these weighty and serious matters in a
conscientious and ethical manner, a style seemingly unagected by the
drama that surrounded the events of the time. He remained a stern,
but compassionate, judge, carefilly weighing each case and each individual defendant on its or their own merit.
AFFINITY FOR PUBLIC SERVICE
In addition, we highlight the extraor.iinary breadth of his devotion to
public service in all forms. Guido Calabr .si, Dean and Sterling Professor of
Law, Yale University, comments on one benefit society has gleaned from
Judge Gesell’s long service to the school as alumni chairman and its representative on the council of the university:
DEVIR AWARD PRESENTATION
Public senice is a broad term. Work for one’s law school may not
qualib US the most significant of public seruice, but it surely has its
part. When it is done by someone like Judge Gesell, who has also been a
dominant figure in more traditional forms of public service, it serves to
show how a person who is truly dedicated to the public interest, can
find time for it in all its manifestations.
Another prominent attorney of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering. Washington,
D.C., adds these thoughts on Judge Gesell’s view of his profession as a public
service impacting society-at-large:
Above all, he has maintained an enthusiasm for the profession of law as
a public senn’ce, and for the dispensation of equal justice to the weak as
well as the power-1, that he continues to transmit to all who appear
before him
MENTOR TO MANY
Finally, we focus on his example as a man worthy of emulation. Judge
&sell has served *as a role model for countless young attorneys. These men
and women help shape the legal profession every day, and will continue to
lead our justice system for decades to come in the tradition set out by Judge
Gesell. Says one former clerk, now a professor at a school of law:
He is probably the most ethical person that I know. So ofin in legal
practice, lawyers and othem manage to rationalize nrtting comers.
Though he understands the factors that lead people to do that, he does
not believe that is acceptable. I have fewer shades of gray than before I
met him.
Another law clerk (and Judge Gesell has never had more than one a year)
of Miller, Cassidy, Lam & Lewin in Washington, D.C. sums up the
sentiments of the twenty-three law clerks Judge Gesell helped mold
His accomplishments and contributions are recognized nationwide, yet
he is an unassuming, modest man. when he assumed the federal
bench, he lej2 a highly remunerative and coveted position as senior
partner of one of this county’s premier law firms He is the classic
etample of a man who has foregone matm’al rewards to lead a life of
public service in the justice system. Judge Gesell is truly an outstandingjurist public servant, and human being. He richly deserves this
award
The Devitt Distinguished Service to Justice Award was established to
recognize extraordinary service by members of the Federal J4iciary. Judge
Gesell’s contribution to American justice epitomizes the spirit of excellence
embodied by this award.
For his distinguished service to justice, we. his confreres on the Federal
Courts, United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, United
States Circuit Judge Wilfred Feinberg. and United States District Court Judge
HONORABLE GERHARD A. GESELL
Edward J. Devitt, present to the Honorable CERHARD A. GESELL, the
EDWARD J. DEVI7T DISTINGUISHED SERVICE TO JUSTICE AWARD.
Judge Gerhard A. Gesell was born in LQS Angeles on June 16, 1910, the
son of renowned physician and child developmental expert Dr. Arnold L
Cesell and Beatrice Chandler Gesell. He graduated from Phillips Andover
Academy (1928) and received his A.B. degree (1932) and J.D. degree (1935)
from Yale University.
Fresh out of law school, he joined the staff of the new Securities and
Exchange Commission and is given credit for helping to establish the SEC as
an effective regulatory agency. After only three years at the SEC. he was
put in charge of a public investigation into the New York Stock Exchange and
one of its major brokerages. His handling of the widely publicized hearings,
at which J.P. Morgan and many other Wall Street tycoons testified, was
praised in newspaper accounts, including this one from Raymond Clapper.
Young Gesell was taken green out of law school and had been working
for the SEC for three years. He ww competent and he developed
rapidly. He handled the Detroit bucket-shop case and worked up the
big Atlantafraud case. When the SEC began investigating the Whitney
affair he was assigned to the job. He prepared himself with atreme
care and thoroughness. In addition to that he had a gijlfoi compact,
succinct questioning. He worked rviul economy of elfort avoiding
useless questions and handled his witnesses uith a cool sure touch but
calmly without browbeating, revealing skill that most lawyers are years
in acquiring.
Thereafter, he received increasing responsibilities at the SEC, handled
congressional hearings and advanced to a position in the Chairman’s office.
In 1941, he left the SEC to join Covington & Burling, a major District of
Columbia firm, where he established a national reputation as a trial lawyer
and corporate advisor. During his twenty-eight year career in private prae
tice, Judge Gesell tried many celebratod cases in federal courts around the
country, and argued several antitrust and other matters before the Supreme
Court.
Judge Gesell has always devoted time to public service. While in private
practice, he se:ved as Chief Assistant Counsel to the Joint Congressional
Committee on Iqvestigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack (1945-46). He chaired
the President’s Commission on Equal Opportunity in the Armed Forces (1962-
641, which helped prompt the desegregation of many aspects of armed services
life. He was also an original member of the Lawyers Committee for Civil
Rights Under Law and the recipient of numerous citations for public service
and pro bono activities. He served as Chairman of the Committee of the
Judicial Council of the District of Columbia Circuit (1966-67) and helped to
guide the reorganization of the District’s court system. He was an early
Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a lecturer at the
University of Virginia and Yale law schools. Throughout his career Judge
DEVIR AWARD PRESENTATION
Gesell has also served on educational and hospital boards in the District of
Columbia. In 1967 he received the Yale Law School Citation of Merit, the
highest award given to graduates of this school, and in 1973 he received the
Phillips Academy Claude Moore Fuess Award for distinguished contribution to
public service.
Judge Gesell’s affinity for public service endured when he was appointed
to the federal bench by President Lyndon B. Johnson on December 7, 1967.
He entered on duty on December 29, 1967. One of the few lawyers at the
time willing to give up a senior partnership in a leading law firm for life
service on the District Court bench, Judge Gesell’s path to federal judgeship
typifies his independent frame of mind. His many noteworthy decisions serve
as an exclamation point. Although eligible for senior status ten years ago, he
remains fully active.
By appointment of the Chief Justice, Judge Gesell has served on several
committees of the National Judicial Conference. He often sits on the United
States hurt of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and on several
occasions has been specially designated by the Chief Justice of the United
States to hear cases outside the District of Columbia. He has been a director
of the Federal’Judicial Center and by invitation has produced a series of
demonstration materials which the Federal Judicial Center uses in training
new judges. He has chaired and served on innumerable judicial committees
within the District Court, most notably chairing a committee he himself
inspired to modernize and rewrite the rules of the District Court Many of the
rules adopted during this process, which began in June of 1972, have been
followed by other Districts around the country and have influenced the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Judge Gesell also served for six years as
the judicial member of the District of Columbia Commission on Judicial
Disabilities and Tenure, which has oversight authority for the District of
Columbia courts. He continues to serve as liaison judge to the District
Court’s grievance committee, and was a member of the Circuit Judicial
Council and the Executive Committee of the District Court
Judge Gesell’s approach to his judicial tasks first came to national prominence soon after joining the Court in a series of cases involving press access
to news sources and the First Amendment right to publish. Most notable is
the Penfagon Papers case, which involved the government’s effort to prevent
publication of government documents obtained by two national newspapers.
Parallel proceedings moved to the Supreme Court from the Southern District
of New York directed at the New York Times and from the District of
Columbia directed at the Washingfon Post. Throughout a series of proceed-
.ngs, twenty-nine federal judges considered the right of the cou-ts to censor
publication. Judge Gesell was the only judge who never issued an order
termporarily staying or prohibiting publication. His view of the merits was
eventually sustained by the Supreme Court.
Later, the designations of Judge Gesell to try a series of Watergate
criminal cases and subsequently the initial phases of the Iran-Contra matter
W(xI1
_-
HONORABLE CERHARD A. GESELL
and the Oliver North trial were further recognition of his always current
docket and his ability to monitor complex litigation in a practical and yet
scholarly manner. His coumm is always a model for controlled prompt
disposition of well-defined issues which have been sorted out in advance
through his informed personal management of pretrial proceedings. He has
always heard and decided motions promptly. His trial dates are also pmmpt
and are rarely continued.
These well-publicized matters are but a small part of the extraordinary
range of challenging and often novel legal issues that have been presented in
regular course to Judge Gesell by reason of his membership in the United
States District Court for the District of Columbia which has had a unique and
demanding caseload during the last two decades. His judicial career has
covered a time of controversy and tumult which has focused its litigation on
the nation’s capital. Judge Gesell has decided cases of national and often
constitutional significance involving abortion rights, swine flu immunization,
random drug testing, AIDS, genetic engineering, medical responsibility with
respect to newborns, voting rights and redistricting, homosexuality, student
riots and draft problems during the Vietnam war, whistle-blowers, race and
sex discriminatih, civil rights controversies of all types, proceedings relating
to impeachment of two feded judges, national strikes and numerous labor
controversies, bid-rigging of government contracts, major separation of powers controversies, prison conditions and much more. These exacting responsibilities accompanied the usual heavy load of regular civil and criminal business that falls to all federal judges in major metropolitan &. Oventll. it
has been an exacting test of judicial competence, case management and
impartiality. Judge Gesell’s track record through it all justifm this Award.
He exemplifies the dedication and excellence which characterizes the effort of
many federal trial judges across the land and has served as a role model to
many.
Judge Gesell married Marion Holliday (Peggy) Pike on September 19, 1936
and has two children, Peter Gerhard and Patricia pike, and three gnndchildren, Sabena, Alexander and Justine. While always maintaining an active
schedule on the bench, he spends weekends at his farm in Loudoun County,
Virginia, where he manages the farm and is an amateur beekeeper. In the
summer he sails and raises vegetables in Maine.
Rernarb
of
Chief .,‘uiige Aubrey -E. Robinson, Jr.
Ladies and gentlemin, I assume that everyone in the room knows why he
or she is here, so I won’t have to explain that to you.
We are very pleased that members of the selection panel are present with
one exception, and I will explain that in a second. We are delighted that
Judge Wilfred Feinberg of the Second Circuit joined by his lovely wife,

HONORABLE GERHARD A. GESELL
affairs of the court. His wisdom and experience have greatly assisted the
court’s efforts to remain a flagship court in the federal system. He has pven
unstintingly of his time in working with advisory committees of the court and
other important committees of the court, the Grievance Committee, the Rule
711 Comm:ttee, and now he is working with the Civil Pro Se Panel Committee.
He presides at the luncheon table in the judge‘s dining room in an inimitable
style, commenting on a variety of subjects that ranges from A-to 2. that is,
from animals and appeals to zoology. As Judge Devitt can attest, because
over the years he has broken bread with us very frequently, Judge Gesell’s
comments are often provocative and certainly a respite from the mundane
business of judges.
Your presence today expresses your appreciation of his passion for the law
and the highest standards of practice in the law and for his years of sustained
performance as one of our finest trial judges. Those who work with him and
those who work for him join with all who know him in extending warm and
hearty congratulations.
We are pleased, as I said before, that Judge Edward J. Devitt, for whom
the West Publishing House Award is named, is here to do the honors. Judge
Devitt is in his-tliirty-sixth year as a District Court Judge and for twentythree of those years he was the Chief Judge of the United States District
Court for the District of Minnesota. He is one of the “Deans” of the federal
trial bench and has been our revered and good friend throughout his tenure.
Judge Edward J. Devitt.
Remarks
of
Judge Edward J. Devitt
Chief Justice Robinson and my fellow judges, friends, we are here this
afternoon to honor Judge Gerhard A. Gesell for his distinguished contributions to advancing the cause of justice. He has earned the recognition
principally through his highly competent judicial management of cases and the
exercise of outstanding courtroom skills in the conduct of trials. He is a trial
judge of the highest order who well serves as an example to his peen and a
model to the public.
Now, I should recall for you that the purpose of th~ award is to give voice
to the often unappreciated work of federal judges. A. members of a mequa1
branch of the government, they have contributed so much for so long to the
remarkable history of the successful workings of our unique representative
republic. We hear so much about the activities of the Execui *e and the
Congressional Branches, but does the public and even the bench and bar as
far as that goes, know and fully value the contributions of the Third Branch?
Well, our friend, Dwight Opperman, who is here with us today. the long
time president of the West Publishing Company, thought not, and he saw a
need to inform the public about the meritorious work of the federal judiciary,
DEVI’IT AWARD PRESENTATION
and so he established this annual award to bring needed recognition to the
work of federal judges at all levels. For more than 200 years federal judges
have acted as a balance wheel in our system of government and they have
insured in that way effective and fair government under the Constitution.
The life and the work of this year’s awardee, Gerhard Gesell, u emblematic of
the commitment of all federal judges. Through this recognition of him we
honor the whole judicial family.
The brochures that you have in yocr hands tell you all about the rernarkable life and the times of our honored guest. I am prompted to comment after
reading all about him, that some observers of our honoree in action have
commented that Judge Gesell is gruff. Gruff is what they say. Well, what
about that? Aren’t all federal judges gruff? Doesn’t it go with the territory?
Some lawyers think that all Article 111 judges are born that way, or at least
they become that way after confirmation by the United States Senate.
Well, about the gruffness business, I know this: Gerhard Gesell is an
even-handed, no-nonsense judge who runs a tight ship. There is no fooling
around. He g& right to the point. He prepares diligently. He listens
attentively, considers carefully. He rules promptly-oh, my, that’s important-and he acts fairly. Those who know him closely see a benign person
with warm heart, full of concern for his fellow man and dedicated to the
commonwealth. And in this instance the inner man is reflected by the outer
one, for Judge Gesell has been described by a seasoned news reporter as
having “a cherub’s face, a Santa’s wispy white hair, and a grandpa’s crinkly
eyes.” Gruff-no. Admirable! You put it all together and you get a fiit
class, highly competent United States trial judge, fittingly representative of
the best in the nation.
Former United States Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson was a great
admirer of the trial judges. “I am convinced,” he said, “that the position in
our profession which requires the most versatility of mind and firmness of
character is the worthily occupied trial bench.
“Further,” he said, “I do not belittle the very necessary and important role
of the appellate court, but I think it has been exalted at the expense of the
trial judge.” With apologies to you, Judge Feinberg, and the other appellate
judges present.
Well, Justice Jackson must have been visualizing the likes of our Judge
Gesell who has done so much for so long, by conduct and bx Pxample, to make
justice work better in the United States courts. Today Gerhard Gesell joins a
long line of distinguished jurists who similarly have been hcnored in the past
for outstanding contributions to justice-Albert B. Maris of Pennsylvania,
Walter Hoffman of Virginia, Warren Burger of Minnesota, Frank Johnson of
Alabama, William Campbell of Illinois, Edward Tamm of Washington, D.C.,
Edward Gignoux of Maine, Elmo Hunter of Missouri, and jointly last year
Elbert Tuttle of Georpa and John Minor Wisdom of Louisiana, and now you
Gerhard Gesell of Washington, D.C.
_-
HOSORABLE GERHARD A. CESELL
so, on behalf of this Year’s panelists, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Judge
Wilfred Feinberg and mvself. it is an honor to present thls scroll, this
beautiful obelisk. and masbe most important of all, an honoranum in the form
of a check for $15,000. Congratulations.
Remarks
of
Gerhard A. Geeell
I didn’t want a ceremonv, but now that we’ve got it underway, I’m pleased
it is taking place. I am very thankful for the honor that the committee has
put on me. I told Ed Devitt before he came in that I was going to accept the
award so he wouldn’t have any doubt. But there is an aspect of this award
that I want to talk about that goes beyond the judge that gets it You realize
I’m getting to be the oldest living active specimen around here and you can
understand why perhaps it fell on me.
I have made my whole life in the law in the District of Columbia. I came
here right out of law school. I have had a chance to practice law to my
heart’s desire. I have filled positions in the Executive Branch. I have filled
positions on Ca,pitol Hill. I have filled a position with the District of Columbia
government, and 1 want to tell YOU that the most challenging and the most
inspiring work I have had to do has been as a federal trial judge.
Now, there are people who think that you get on the bench and you are a
federal judge and YOU issue decrees, hand down harsh orders, stamp a piece of
paper, and that’s what the job is all about. The reason I’m glad to have a
chance to talk with YOU now (and this audience includes many of the people
I’m going to be talking about in a moment) is to make it clear that a federal
trial judge is no better or no worse than the supporting services he gets, from
the aid he gets from his colleagues, from the help and ideas that you pick up
from the moment you enter this courthouse and a man gives you a cheery
wave, until you say god night to the charlady who is cleaning up for the next
day.
There are a bunch of people who have helped me in every way possible.
We exchange ideas. Sometimes they learn something from me. I often learn
a lot from them. The work of any single judge is a composite of what the
judges can learn from other judges and the help a judge gets from the
experienced supporting people all around the courthouse.
+$e United States District Court for the District of Columbia is the
oubtanding United states District Court in the land. If you look at what
happened here in the last twenty, twenty-five years, we have been constantly
in .he eye of the storm. ,411 of the political ferment has centered here.
Pecple come from all over the country X) file their cases here. What we do is
read every morning by the President, by cabinet officers, by Congressmen,
and we are under the zealous eye of the national press. The performance that
this great court has put forward is not the work of any single judge. It is the
LXXXVll
DEVIR AWARD PRESENTATlON
work of a system that is working. It is the work of my colleagues and other
people here who have contributed to it in various ways. I want to just
mention a few examples, because without that kind of help I am talking about.
this wouldn’t be the great insititution it is.
You look around these walls of this ceremonial courtroom. There’s
nobody here who can remember the names of all the judges whose
portraits hang there. Judges come and go. I will have mine up there
some day. But the thing that counts is the record of the court as an
institution. There are people here from the Clerk’s Office who have made
substantial contribution to our work with new ideas and extra effort. We
have from the Probation Office people who take an extra effort, get
interested in somebody, prevent us from doing something that would be
wrong. We’ve got members of the bar, pretty feisty in court sometimes,
but when you call on them, they’re here. They work for the institution.
They contribute to its success.
The role of any trial judge is to work with what is available, to bring out
the best in everybody that’s doing the job and to profit by the glory that
comes from success-it is happening to me-but you also get all the blame,
and that’s the way it should be. The individuality of judges is a very small
aspect of a smooth, hard-working court.
Now, there are a few people I’ve got to mention. I’m not allowed to
mention Mrs. Gesell. She told me that if I did she wouldn’t come, and I know
she meant it. All I can say about her contribution is that she is where I found
the flowers in my life, and the music, the books, and a chance to forget what
goes on here from day to day. When I get home, the court is gone and we
live a life.
Now, around this mom you are going to see a bunch of fairly uglylooking people, some of them. They are my law clerks. I am going to see
them tonight at dinner and I‘m going to reserve for dinner some of my true
feelings about them, but I do want to tell you that there is a whole law clerk
family you raise as a judge. I only have one law clerk each year. I believe
in doing my own work. But, you know, I look around and one law clerk
can’t be here because he’s on a delegation representing our country in
negotiations with Canada. I have members of this family in public service,
in environmental work, in private practice, teaching. We stay together. I
marry a lot of them-I mean, I perform the ceremony-and we are all
renewed every year by the law clerks coming together to tell what is
happening to them.
And then there is something very particular about a trial judge’s chambers and the peo;le ww king immediately with him every day in court. That
is where the plrblic rnezts the federal court. Stop to think about it for a
minute. The public meets the appellate courts if they read the newspapers
or they listen to Dan Rather, who doesn’t necessarily understand the
opinion. But in the federal trial court you meet people with grievances
c(XxVIII
HONORABLE GERHARD A. GESELL
every day. They come for a solution of their problems and it is not just the
decision that you make that must be fair, it is something more than that.
The public must feel they have come to a place where they will be heard,
where they have been treated decently and fairly. and that is the role of a
trial judge and his immediate staff. It is something of prime importance
that is sometimes forgotten.
The people who have helped me work this out are here and I want to
mention them. My Deputy Clerk, Barbara Montgomery, – who handles
lawyers and witnesses gracefully; my Court Stenographer or Reporter,
who has the most incredible ear for things I sometimes don’t ever hear,
Santa Zizzo: my Bailiff, Roy Smith, whose inner decency and concern is
known all over this courthouse as one who always wants to help and be
part of the effort: and then last but far from least I come to a lady who
has been with me now for thirty-seven years. I call her Doris Brown.
There are some people who call her Judge Brown. She is not a lawyer.
But her Irish wit and her knowledge of procedures, both the written and
the unwritten procedures of this courthouse, have enabled her to cajole or
entice or direct the business of my chambers into sound channels and
prompt solutions. She breaks in all the law clerks. She knows ahead of
time what I’mtgbing to think when I arrive and I do a lot that she tells me
I’ve got to do.
So, I’m very particularly grateful to all these people who have worked with
me this way. I’m grateful to my friends, the judges from across the street,
who came over for thii ceremony. I’m extraordinarily indebted to my
colleagues, and I want to thank again the committee for the honor they have
bestowed on me, with a special bow to Mr. Opperman who had the foresight
and sensitivity to get the Devitt Award program going.
I believe I am to tell you that there is some iced tea and cookies over in the
dining room across the hall. I look forward to seeing some of you there.
Thank you.
Concluding Remarks
of
Chief Judge Robinson
Please join us in the judge’s dining room. You know where that is. The
judge’s dining mom is on this floor. There we are going to have a reception
where each one of you will have the opportunity to greet Judge Cesell
individually.
Thank you all for coming.
(Proceedings adjourned at 4 pm.)
co(xu1
DEVITT AWARD PRESENTATION
The Selection Panel
Judge Edward J. Devitt
This year’s presentation to Judge Cesell is the eighth annual award of the
Edward J. Devitt Distinguished Service to Justice Award. It is named for
Judge Devitt, longtime Chief United States District Judge for Minnesota.
The award was created to bring Iublic attention to the dedication and
contributions to justice made by all fed-ral judges by recognizing annually the
achievements of one of the Article 111 judges who has contributed signficantly
to that end.
Judge Devitt is a member of the American Bar Association, Minnesota Bar
Association, Ramsey County Bar Association, Federal Bar Association, American Judicature Society and the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation. His
activites have included
Chairman, ABA Legal Advisory Committee on Fair Trial-Press (1967-71);
Chairman, ad hoc Committee on Court Facilities and Design of the United
States Judicial Conference (1971-73); Cochairman, Bicentennial Committee of the Judicial Conference (1975-76); Chairman, Judicial Conference
Committee to Consider Standards for Admission to Practice in the Federal
Courts (1976-79); Member, Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration (196C-68); and Member, United States Judicial Conference
Standing Committee on Judicial Conduct (1982). He was a member of the
Judicial Conference Committee which recommended the legislation creating the Federal Judicial Center (1968-70).
Judge Devitt was the originator of the six-person jury in the federal
courts, now used in 86 of the 95 US. District Courts, and, in addition to
authoring many published articles, is ceauthor of Federal Jury Practice &
Instmetions (3 volumes), Devitt and Blackmar, West Publishing Company, St.
Paul, Minnesota.
Judge Devitt served as chairman of the selection panel which included
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Judge Wilfred Feinberg.
Jurtice Sandra Day O’Connor
Justice O’Connor was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of
the United States on September 22, 1981 and took the oath of office on
September 25, 1981.
Justice O’Connor graduated magna cum laude from Stanford I niversity,
receiving a B.A. degree in 1950 and an LL.B. degree in 1952. Sne w :s elected
to the Order of the Coif, and was on the Board of Editors for the Stanford
Law Review.
Before entering the judiciary, Justice O’Connor was Deputy County Attorney for San Mako County in California; Civilian Attorney for Quartermaster
xc
HONORABLE GERH.4RD A. GESELL
Market Center, Frankfurt, Germany; in private practice in Maryvale, Arizona;
Arizona Assistant Attorney General; and State Senator in the Arizona State
Senate.
While in the Arizona State Senate, Justice O’Connor was elected Hajority
Leader, and served as Chairman of the State, County and Municipal Affairs
Committee.
In 1975 she was elected Judge, Maricopa County Superior Court. In 1979
she was appointed Judge, Arizona Court of Appeals.
Born March 26, 1930 in El Paso, Texas, Justice O’Connor and husband,
John J. O’Connor, 111, have three sons: Scott, Brian and Jay.
Judge Wilfred Feinberg
United States Circuit Judge Wilfred Feinberg was appointed by President
Johnson as a United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit on March 7,
1966. He took office on March 15,1966. Judge Feinberg became Chief Judge
on June 24, 1980 and served in that capacity until January 1, 1989. He
continues to be an active judge with a full caseload.
Judge Feinberg received his A.B. degree from Columbia College in 1940
(Phi Beta Kappa) and his LL.B. degree from Columbia Law School in 1946
where he was editor-in-chief of the law review. He has been awarded
honorary degrees by Columbia University and Syracuse University, and was
the 1990 recipent of the New York State Bar Association’s Gold Medal for
Distinguished Service in the Law. He served in the United States Army
Signal Corps in Africa and Italy during World War 11.
Judge Feinberg was admitted to the bar in 1947, and remained in private
practice until 1961. In October 1961, he was appointed by President Kennedy
as a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, a
post he held until his appointment to the Second Ciuit in 1966.
Judge Feinberg has been a member of various committees of the Judicial
Conference of the United States and a member of the Conference itself (1980-
88), and chairman of its Executive Committee (1987-88).
Born June 22, 1920 in New York City, Judge Feinberg is married to the
former Shirley Marcus and has three children: Susan Ann, Jack Leonard and
Jessica Sara.
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