Stanley Weigel

of University California Berkeley Regional Oral History Office University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Northern California U.S. District Court Oral History Series Stanley Weigel LITIGATOR AND FEDERAL JUDGE Interviews conducted by William Fletcher in 1989 Copyright 2000 by The Regents of the University of California Since 1954 the Regional Oral History Office has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the Nation. Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through tape-recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well- informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The tape recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is indexed, bound with photographs and illustrative materials, and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ************************************ All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Stanley Weigel dated December 12, 1996. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. No part of the manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of the Director of The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to the Regional Oral History Office, 486 Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720, and should include identification of the specific passages to be quoted, anticipated use of the passages, and identification of the user. The legal agreement with Stanley Weigel requires that he be notified of the request and allowed thirty days in which to respond. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Stanley Weigel, "Litigator and Federal Judge," an oral history conducted in 1989 by William Fletcher, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2000. Copy no. Stanley A. Weigel, U.S. District Judge. Cataloguing information Stanley Weigel (1905-1999) Judge Litigator and Federal Judge , 2000, viii, 187 pp. Education at Stanford University, and Stanford Law School; early work with Halsey & Leo law firm; litigator for Fitzgerald, Abbott & Beardsley law firm, discusses cases: Owl Drug Co., Fair Trade Act, Leco Products Co.; personal injury work, UC loyalty oath; World Federalists, Norman Cousins, Edward S. Rogers; federal judgeship, 1962: multi-district litigation, Yerba Buena case, 1969, Johnson case; San Francisco Unified School District controversy. Interviewed 1989 by William Fletcher for the Northern California U.S. District Court Oral History Series, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. THE NEW YORK TIMES OBITUARIES SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1999 Judge Stanley Weigel, 93, Dies; Acted to Improve Prisons By WOLFGANG SAXON meet Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who was screening candi Stanley Alexander Weigel, a re dates for judicial appointments. tired Federal judge who had ordered Mr. Weigel, who had served on the California to living condi improve national committee of the American tions in prisons and, earlier in his Civil Liberties Union, was a regis career, had defended professors dis tered Republican. missed for refusing to take a loyalty In 1962, President Kennedy ap oath, died on Wednesday at his home pointed Mr. Weigel to the United in San Francisco. He was 93. States District Court for the North Mr. was considered a Weigel tough ern District of California. with a short but he was judge fuse, One case over which Judge Weigel also known for his independence and presided began in the early 1970 s his to render decisions re courage when inmates in the maximum-secu gardless of their popularity. rity units at the aging San Quentin He his career in 1928 in San began and Folsom prisons sued, claiming Francisco, antitrust cases. handling that living conditions were inhu But in 1949 he took on a civil liberties mane. The case would continue until case that other had many lawyers 1984 when Judge Weigel ordered the of its im shunned because political State of California to make improve plications. ments. had been Thirty-one professors The judge was also known for his the of Cali dismissed by University leniency in sentencing draft resisters fornia for to a refusing sign loyalty during the Vietnam War. While other Associated Press. 1962 pledge. Mr. Weigel sued the universi would often send those con judges Stanley Alexander Weigel ty on behalf of the professors and victed of dodging the draft to prison, won their reinstatement with back Judge Weigel would routinely sen pay in 1952 when the California Su tence them to community service or Ripley & Diamond, representing cor antitrust issues. preme Court declared that a loyalty probation. porations in oath violated the State Constitution. Stanley Weigel was born in Helena, Mr. Weigel also served two years About that time, Mr. Weigel be Mont. He graduated from Stanford as a lieutenant in the Navy in World came friends with Pierre Salinger, University in 1926 and from Stanford War II. the journalist and confidant of the Law School two years later. He prac Another highly charged issue be Kennedy family. After Senator John ticed law for two years before be fore Judge Weigel grew out of the F. Kennedy was elected President in coming a partner in the firm of Lan- eviction of tenants whose homes 1960, Mr. Salinger took Mr. Weigel to dels, Weigel & Ripley, now Landels stood in the way of the Yerba Buena He is survived his wife of 60 urban renewal project proposed by by the San Francisco Redevelopment years, Anne Kauffman Weigel; a Susan Agency. daughter, Weigel Pasternak, of and four In 1970, Judge Weigel blocked the Cambridge, Mass., grand replacement of the low-income children. In a apartments with hotels and tourist 1995 interview with The Re attractions. corder, a legal newspaper in San He ruled that the developers had Francisco, Judge Weigel related how not done enough to find replacement the Salinger-Kennedy connection landed in Robert of housing for the displaced tenants, a him Kennedy s decision that dismayed much of San fice and on the bench. "Robert was a Francisco s political and business Kennedy wearing turtleneck community. In 1973, Judge Weigel sweater and had a football worked out a settlement in which the and threw it at me as I walked in the and I he recalled. tenants were provided new homes. door, caught it," Judge Weigel reached senior sta "That s how I became a Federal tus in 1982 but continued to hear judge." cases until two years ago. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Regional Oral History Office, on behalf of future researchers, wishes to thank the following individuals and organizations whose contributions made possible this oral history of Judge Stanley Weigel. Judge William Fletcher U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Historical Society TABLE OF CONTENTS--Stanley Weigel PREFACE i INTRODUCTION AND INTERVIEW HISTORY by William Fletcher iv I BACKGROUND 1 Growing Up in San Francisco 1 Lowell High School 2 II STANFORD UNIVERSITY 5 Choosing a College 5 Recollections of Days at Stanford 6 Working as Campus Newspaper Correspondent 15 III STANFORD LAW SCHOOL 19 Recollections of the Law School 19 Evaluation of Effectiveness of the School 20 Summertime Work at Halsey & Leo 21 Classmates 22 IV HALSEY & LEO LAW FIRM 24 Joining the Firm 24 Bar Examination 26 V FITZGERALD, ABBOTT & BEARDSLEY LAW FIRM 28 Reasons for Change 28 Owl Drug Company 29 Fair Trade Act Cases 31 Description of the Firm 35 Leco Products Company 36 More Early Work Experiences 38 Thoughts about Law Firms and Law Practice in Depression Times 39 Social and Community Activities 41 Personal Injury Cases 41 Corruption 42 Quality of Lawyers 43 Firm Moves to San Francisco 44 Courtship and Marriage 45 Paul Smith 47 Professors Case: Loyalty Oath at UC 48 Writing a Book on the Fair Trade Act 56 More on the Loyalty Oath Case 56 World Federalist Organization 57 Norman Cousins and the Saturday Review 59 Edward S. Rogers 59 More on the World Federalists 60 Service in the U.S. Navy 61 A Fair Trade Case in Montana and One in Los Angeles 67 Discussions of Advocacy, Beliefs, and Memory 69 Charles Wyzanaki and Others 71 Plan for Automobile Accident Commission 74 World Affairs Council and Other International Affairs 75 VI FEDERAL JUDGESHIP 79 Appointment to the Bench 79 First Impressions 85 Juries 87 The Business of a Federal District Court Judge 90 Multi-District Litigation Panel 99 Sitting on Other Courts 102 Some Significant Cases 107 Yerba Buena Case, 1969 107 Johnson Case 117 Murder on Treasure Island 120 Toussaint v. McCarthy 120 GO Road Case 131 Dellums v. Smith 136 Digression: Back to Stanford 146 Johnson v. San Francisco Unified School District 148 TAPE GUIDE 160 APPENDIX Letters from Former Law Clerks of Judge Weigel 161 INDEX 186 PREFACE The Historical Society of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California is a non-profit organization established by federal practitioners and judges and is dedicated to preserve and develop the history of this court.

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