JAMES HAMILTON, ESQ.
Oral History Project
The Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit
Oral History Project United States Courts
The Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit
District of Columbia Circuit
JAMES HAMILTON, ESQ.
Interviews conducted by William Jeffress, Esq.
June 11, June 20, August 22, October 18, November 25, December 18, 2019
January 23, 2020 and April 26, 2021
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. i
Oral History Agreements
James Hamilton, Esq……………………………………………………………………………………. iii
William Jeffress, Esq. …………………………………………………………………………………….v
Oral History Transcripts of Interviews
June 11, 2019 ………………………………………………………………………………………………..1
June 20, 2019 ………………………………………………………………………………………………35
August 22, 2019…………………………………………………………………………………………..85
October 18, 2019………………………………………………………………………………………..136
November 25, 2019…………………………………………………………………………………….178
December 18, 2019 …………………………………………………………………………………….214
January 23, 2020 ………………………………………………………………………………………..246
April 26, 2021 ……………………………………………………………………………………………275
Index …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. A-1
Table of Cases and Statutes …………………………………………………………………………………B-1
Biographical Sketches
James Hamilton, Esq………………………………………………………………………………..C-1
William Jeffress, Esq. …………………………………………………………………………….. D-1
Blog: James Hamilton Contrasts Watergate and January 6 …………………………………….E-1
NOTE
The following pages record interviews conducted on the dates indicated. The interviews were
recorded digitally or on cassette tape, and the interviewee and the interviewer have been afforded
an opportunity to review and edit the transcript.
The contents hereof and all literary rights pertaining hereto are governed by, and are subject to,
the Oral History Agreements included herewith.
© 2023 Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit.
All rights reserved.
Preface
The goal of the Oral History Project of the Historical Society of the District of Columbia
Circuit is to preserve the recollections of the judges of the Courts of the District of Columbia
Circuit and lawyers, court staff, and others who played important roles in the history of the
Circuit. The Project began in 1991. Oral history interviews are conducted by volunteer attorneys
who are trained by the Society. Before donating the oral history to the Society, both the subject
of the history and the interviewer have had an opportunity to review and edit the transcripts.
Indexed transcripts of the oral histories and related documents are available in the
Judges’ Library in the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse, 333 Constitution Avenue,
N.W., Washington, D.C., the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, and the library of
the Historical Society of the District of Columbia
With the permission of the person being interviewed, oral histories are also available on
the Internet through the Society’s Web site, www.dcchs.org. Audio recordings of most
interviews, as well as electronic versions of the transcripts, are in the custody of the Society.
i