Ore on BE CH THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT OF HISTORICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

John Mitchell and George Williams Two "Legal Eagles"on the Washington Hot Seat By FRED LEESON

The followiNg article isadapted from Rose City Justice: A Legal friendship, and Mitchell became Holladay's per- HistOIY of Portland, Oregon, a book to be published tiJisfall by sonal lawyer. In 1872, with Holladay's backing, the Oregoll State Bar as part of the OSB Heritage Committees efforts Mitchell won his dream of being elected by the to preserve the state's legal history. The story, taken from CiJapter 2 Oregon legislature to the U.S. Senate. of that book, concerHSa railroad magHate, Ben Holladay; a promi- nent Oregon attorney, John H. Mitchell; and a former Oregon Meanwhile in the Nation's Capital territorial court chief justice, George H. Williams. While early railroad development unfolded in Oregon, U.S. Senator George H. Williams be- npioneer days, many Oregonians dreamed of came the first Oregonian to be appointed to a Irailroad ties to the East-not so much for mov- federal Cabinet position when President Ulysses ing people as for transporting mail, goods, and ag- S. Grant named him U.S. attorney general in ricultural products. At the time, the Willamette 1871. Grant's respect for Williams' abilities be- River, Portland's primary artery for commerce, was came evident two years later when he nominated inaccessible to many farmers in the lush western Williams for the position of chief justice of the Oregon valleys and (supporters argued) railroads Continued on page 3 would provide access. Such dreams turned to reality in 1864, when Congress approved land-grant legislation authoriz- ing the Northern Pacific Railroad to build a cross- continental line above the 45th parallel to Puget Sound or Portland, In 1866 Congress made a simi- lar land grant for a line from Portland to the Cali- fornia border. Soon after the second grant was announced, two competing private companies started construction from Portland hoping to cash in on the land grants. One headed south on the west side of the and the other on the east side.

Enter Ben Holladay and John H. Mitchell Both local companies were running low on cash when the fast-talking, big-spending Ben Holladay arrived in Portland in September 1868, flush with $1.5 million from the sale of his stagecoach lines to . Represented by Portland's most prominent law firm, Dolph & Mitchell, Holladay infused money into the east side line, fought the west side company at the Oregon legislature, and finally bought out his competitors in 1870. John Mitchell was a prominent Portland lawyer whose Holladay reorganized his properties under the name ambitions eventually got the better of him. After being found Oregon and Railroad Co. and sold bonds guilty of trying to defraud the US government during the in European markets to finance it. spectacular land-fraud trials of 1903-10, the popular four- Soon the flamboyant Holladay and the politically term senator was barred from office, jailed, and fined. He ambitious John H. Mitchell developed a close ended his days a broken man.

SUMMER 1998 THE BILL DALE I KNEW By CLIFFORD OLSEN

Norman Sepenuk, the dean of the criminal defense bar in Or- e all remember Bill Dale the ju egon, is my close personal friend. We make it a point to enjoy W rist-Iearned, patient, compas- each other's company at least once a month, over lunch or on a sionate, somewhat austere. Those who long walk. Whenever I encounter a friend while in Norm's com- knew him best also recall Bill Dale the pany, I am always quick to explain that I am his friend, not his athlete. client. This friendship is in no small measure the result of my In high school and college, Bill was having taken Norm's oral history. We had known and admired a highly regarded baseball and bas- each other before then, but doing Norm's oral history for the ketball player. When he was in the U.S. District Court Historical Society added a new and signifi- service, he was recruited to play with cant dimension to our friendship. some all-American types at Officers Sarah Ryan, who chairs our oral history program, is about to complete Training School. On at least one oc- a marvelous, wide-ranging conversation with retired assistant U.S. At- casion he played in Madison Square torney Jack Collins. Those of you who know Jack know that he is a true Garden. As good as he was, Bill real- Renaissance man. Sarah and Jack have enjoyed themselves immensely ized early on that he was a half step and together have added to the richness of our court's proud history. too slow, his vertical leap was not If Sarah's and my experience pique your interest in doing an oral his- world class, and tory, please give Sarah a call. Better yet, look her up at the annual picnic his fade-away on the afternoon of August 30 at Sauvie Island School. Sarah will be jump shot was there along with the judges in our district. If you have gotten an adverse too flat and hard, ruling from Judge Haggerty, for example, or from Judge Ashmanskas, so he wisely gave the picnic provides a golden opportunity to even the score with an egg up serious athlet- (as in egg toss), a water balloon (as in balloon toss), or a baseball bat (as ics in favor of in softball game). Stanford Law By the time you read this, I hope you will have enjoyed our first of School. many annual mid-summer socials at the courthouse. By the time you While the ath- read this, you also may have learned that we have more than 60 new letic gene was members this year, that we have requested a grant to fund the expan- suppressed, it Judge William Dale sion of our oral history program, and that we are in the midst of never died. Bill planning what promises to be an informative and entertaining annual became an outstanding handball dinner. The featured speaker will be esteemed U.S. Supreme Court player and a fair golfer and tennis practitioner E. Barrett Prettyman, Jr., who served as law clerk to Jus- player. In addition, he was always an tices Jackson, Frankfurter, and Harlan before beginning his distinguished avid sports fan. Bill never missed a career in private practice. Blazer game. When the Portland Bea- This has been a busy year for the executive committee, and working vers were around, he showed up for with each member has been an absolute delight for me. There is a new every opening day at old Vaughan Street sense of energy and vigor in our organization, and I am indebted to ev- and later at Multnomah Stadium. eryone on the executive committee for working selflessly and without Bill knew the batting averages of complaint. every major leaguer from Ruth to This message has been somewhat whimsical, but I close on a serious Griffey, Jr. The morning after San note, namely the recent deaths of Clifford N. Carlsen and Judge William Francisco won its first Super Bowl M. Dale. Those who knew them well have written and spoken eloquently game,he showed up at the Standard of their achievements and their contributions to our community and to Plaza Coffee Shop wearing a '4ger cap the law. I add only that we miss them. he had been given at the team's first training camp in 1947. Then there was the time the Blazers won the NBA championship! Bill, of course, had been at the game. The fol- »«: lowing day, he asked me to join him on the little balcony outside his cham- bers so we would have an unob- TRIPLE PLAY _ structed view of the team as it paraded up Fifth Avenue. When the team had Recent federal court investitures in the region include: passed, we went out on the street and • Hon. Ann Aiken, District Court, April 14 (Eugene) trailed the parade up the avenue and down Madison to Terry Shrunk Park, • Hon. Susan P. Graber, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, June 29 (Portland) where a speaker's stand had been • Hon. Garr M. King, United States District Court, July 10 (Portland) Continued on page 8

2 United States, following the death of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase. Williams ultimately was denied that loftiest of American legal posts, how- ever, by a convergence of unusual cir- cumstances. For one thing, Eastern traditionalists questioned whether his five years on the Oregon territorial court was sufficient experience for a chief justice. For another, Williams' wife Kate made social enemies in Washington by airs she affected as the wife of a Cabinet member and by her exultant reaction to her husband's nomination as chief justice. The fact that Kate rode around Washington in a horse-drawn landaulet provided to Williams by the Albina's business center developed at the corner of Williams Avenue and Russell Street, named for federal government prompted an in- Albina founders George Williams and Edwin Russell. vestigation of Williams' spending. Though the investigation ultimately refused to issue indictments. Gibbs the east and west sides of the river in found no improprieties, Williams' sensed chicanery in the selection of 1887 and 1888, respectively. Albina's political opponents labelled him with federal grand jurors and convinced western edge became the home of a the sneering nickname "Landaulet Judge Deady to select a new panel at major railroad freight and repair yard, Williams," an appellation that stayed random. while its commercial center at the in- with him the rest of his life. And back At Mitchell's request, Williams or- tersection of Russell Street and Will- in Oregon a political dispute involv- dered Gibbs to halt the investigation iams Avenue was the heart of a ing his old law partner, Addison C. or be replaced. Gibbs refused to back thriving community until Albina Gibbs, undercut Williams' home-state down, so Williams fired his old part- merged with Portland in 1891. support. ner and replaced him with , who subsequently became a Fred Leeson is a Portland newspaper The Plot Thickens leading corporate lawyer. The outcry reporter who spent 13 years writing The dispute involving Gibbs arose over Gibbs' removal helped convince about Multnomah County courts. He from an 1873 Williams that he lacked the political is an inactive member of the Oregon congressional support to be confirmed as chief jus- State Bar and is a graduate of Stanford election, in tice. Rather than face that humilia- University and the Northwestern which a Re- tion, he told President Grant to School of Law and Lewis & Clark publican remove his name from consideration. College. nominee sup- Mallory, after seven years as U.S. at- ported by torney, was elected to one term in Sena tor John Congress, where he represented H. Mitchell Oregon from 1867 to 1869. was defeated August 30 ... Annual Picnic at by his Demo- Back Home, George Willliams and his cratic oppo- Williams Helps Found Albina Sauvie Island School, 1-4 PM wife became the objects of nent. Mitchell, Although George H. Williams re- official investigations whose domes- November 5... Annual Meeting when it was alleged he mained in the East until 1881, he tic and marital 5 :00 PM, Social Hour & gave her a handsome strengthened his Portland ties in 1872 problems were Dinner. The featured speaker is landaulet and horses at while serving in the Grant adminis- a primary topic E. Barrett Prettyman, Jr., of the government expense. tration. He and Edwin Russell, a Port- during the land banker, bought an interest in a Supreme Court Historical campaign, was thought to have en- small township just across the Society. ':. gaged in voter fraud in Portland dur- Willamette River from Portland. They <. Watch your mail for invitations. ing that race. Former Governor named the township Albina, for the For nominations to the Board of Gibbs, then serving as United States wife of the prior owner. Directors, call Jeff Batchelor at attorney for Oregon, presented evi- Albina grew quickly after the origi- 778-2157 before October 1. dence to a federal grand jury, which nal Morrison and Steel bridges linked

3 fun. I liked doing it. I hadn't finished never seen alive again. It stayed in the it when I moved out to Oregon, so I courts for about 20 years and involved kept working on it. When I finished, hypnotized witnesses, circus trials, sex it wasn't very good. slaves, and tons of other fascinating aspects. Rosenblum: Which novel was it? Fortunately for me, there weren't Margolin: Well, it was never published. very many people writing in Oregon I got 187 pages written, so I felt I had in the 1970s and I got it all to myself. accomplished my task. The big thing Nobody from New York or L.A. was I enjoyed sitting down and just glommed onto it because they didn't writing, so I decided to write another know about it. I said, "Now I want nove!. I wrote a second one which was to write a novel for real, and why not a really horrible murder mystery. But fictionalize Peyton-Allen?" So I again, I liked doing it. I never tried to started writing. get the thing published because I I had five chapters and an outline didn't think anyone would want it, when a friend calls me up whom I and it was so horrible no one would! hadn't seen since law schoo!. He was I used to write a science fiction short coming out on vacation, and did I story once a year and try to get it pub- want to get together with him and his lished. They were just terrible, and wife? I said "Great!" It turns out he they all got rejected. In '73 I decided is one of three lawyers for the largest An Interview with to write this suspense thriller short literary agency in the world. Mystery Writer/Lawyer story for a change. It got rejected by So I said, "Well, Marty, you know one mystery magazine, and then I did I'm writing a book." He goes, "Oh, Phillip Margolin a rewrite and sent it into another one. no!" He was real nice, though. He Lo and behold, they said they wanted took what I had written back to this to give me $65 to publish it. I was just agency and gave it to a guy who had ne oj the best-known members oj ecstatic! never sold a book before. Two weeks OPortland's le!Jal community is Phil All of a sudden I said, "Well maybe later I was in trial and when I came Mar!Jolin, who has achieved i11ternational I can actually do this." This short back to the office at about 5:30, ev- renown as the author oj six legal thriller story was so different from the rest. It eryone was sitting around with cham- mysteries-Jive oj which have been New had a very believable main character pagne. I said, "What's up?" and they York Times best sellers in the past Jive you could relate to, as opposed to my said, "Your agent called and they sold years. One day in April, The Hon. Ellen science fiction story where people had your novel!" plaid eyeballs, or my murder mystery, Rosenblum sat down with Mar!Jolin toJind where a chess grand master solved this Rosenblum: This is which novel? out just how he made the leap Jrom lawyer mystery from his room. Margolin: Heartstone. That was in '78. to author and what, Jj any, effect his expe- The other thing I found was that the rience inJederal court has had on his writ- plot was unpredictable. When you Rosenblum: Now none of your books in!J The Jollowin!J exchan!Je is excerpted start out with the story, you have no actually involve the federal courts spe- Jrom that interview. idea what is going to happen. Sur- cifically, do they? prises keep popping up that make the Margolin: I haven't set one in federal Rosenblum: You have said to me that reader want to keep reading. I sort of court yet. One reason is that most of you "just fell into writing." How did discovered this on my own. my books involve a murder tria!' I that happen? tried a murder case in federal court, Margolin: I was always in awe of writ- Rosenblum: Tell me how you got your but the one I tried there was an In- ers, but I never thought I had the abil- big break. dian reservation murder. It is unusual ity to be one. After college I was in Margolin: When I was clerking for to get murder trials in federal court. the Peace Corps in Liberia, West Af- Herbert Schwab, the chief judge of the rica. Then I worked my way through Oregon Court of Appeals, I became Rosenblum: Do you remember when New York University Law Schoo!. My fascinated with the famous Peyton- you first set foot in a federal courthouse? last summer in law school I didn't Allen case because it had an 800-page Margolin: Yes, I do. It was in the '70s. have to work and I had a light class brief. I had never seen a brief like that What I remember is that I had a re- load. I could never figure out how before. It was just stupendously huge. ally tough time getting on the appoint- guys filled up 500 pages with words, For some weird reason I got hooked ment list. The first case I had was in so I decided to spend the summer see- on it. I think it is the single most com- front of Judge Belloni, and it was a ing if I could write a novel based on my plex and amazing murder case in very exciting case. This was a young African experiences-not to get pub- American history. [The Peyton Allen woman who had been going shopping lished or anything, just to see if I could case involved the murder of two re- with her girlfriend when her write something more than 25 pages. I cent high school graduates who went boyrfriend drove up in his car. He was started writing this novel and it was out on a Friday night date and were a big drug dealer, and he asked her if

4 she wanted to go do something with him. He drove to a Red Lion Inn and On Our Members' Bookshelves went into the bar and made a heroin sale to an undercover treasury agent. The agent gets in the back of the The Great Chief Justice: car and the dealer pulls out this John Marshall and the Rule of Law heroin. My client was so scared that by Charles F. Hobson she didn't say anything. She was scared to death. Her friend gave the Reviewed by Jeffrey J. Druckman heroin to this guy and the money came In this new biography of John Marshall, historian up front and the drug dealer says to Charles Hobson analyzes the landmark decisions of the girlfriend, "Count it." To which the early Supreme Court that consolidated the central she still didn't say anything-she was authority of the American government and severely too scared to even talk. That was it. limited states' rights. When Marshall took the oath of She got arrested and she claimed she office as chief justice in February 1801, the division of power between the didn't know a damn thing about this federal government and the individual states was by no means a settled is- up until the time he pulled the heroin sue . .Hobson makes a pe~suasive case that Marshall was uniquely qualified, out from under the seat. by virtue of stature and intellect, to establish the legitimacy of the Court as Chuck Paulson was the lawyer for the arbiter of public questions, so that its decisions would be accepted as the the other defendant. He got up and law of the land. made an opening statement. I got up Marshall's achievements before his appointment to the high court compel and told the jury that this was the ~ modern citizen t? examine anew the qualifications of twentieth-century most disgusting display I had ever Justlce~. Pnor t<: his appointment, Marshall was a soldier, state legislator, seen-how chivalry was dead and executive councillor, lawyer, commissioner to France, member of Congress how this piece of garbage wouldn't and secretary of state. Hobson notes that Marshall was a clear thinker whose own up to the fact that he was drag- written opinions moved logically from premise to conclusion and who was ging his girlfriend into this. After my able t,o ~uide the court throu~h "collaborative deliberation." Justice Story's opening statement, Paulson pleaded desc,nptlOn of Marshall provides a model for every jurist: "patience, mod- his guy guilty and made a deal to have eration, candor, urbanity, quickness of perception, dignity of deportment, him testify. I just ripped the guy on gentleness of manners, genius which commands respect and learning which cross and then put on a whole series justifies confidence," , of character witnesses. Hobson carefully reviews Marshall's decisions in cases involving the role I was a very new lawyer, and I was of the Sup~en:e Court, property ri~hts and contract !aws, national supremacy, embarrassed to ask certain people cer- and stat~s nghts:!>s HO,bson points out, at the nme Marbury v. Madison tain questions when I was interview- was decided, judicial review was well established and courts in the United ing because I didn't want to embarrass States h~d previously declared laws unconstitutional. Indeed, Marbury's or insult them-one of the questions declaration of a congressional law (the Judiciary Act of 1789) as unconstitu- being, "Have you ever been convicted tion~l ,raise? few eyebrows at the time. More disturbing to the Jefferson of a crime?" My first two character administration was the Court's dicta that the chief executive had acted im- witnesses were great. But when Jack properly in denying Marbury his commission. Wong, the U.S. attorney, asked the Hobson believes that Marbury laid the groundwork for modern judicial third one, "Have you ever been con- authority only indirectly. He points out that in 1803, no one could have victed of a crime?" the guy says YES. foreseen the emergence of the tendency, later noted by Tocqueville to turn It turns out this guy was one of the the "great public questions" into judicial questions, It is interesting to note biggest Ritalin dealers in North Port- that Marbury was the only case in which the Marshall court found a con- land and I didn't know it! gressionallaw unconstitutional and that, in doing so, it limited its own au- Rosenblum: Oh, boy! thority (to is~ue writs of mandamus to officers of the federal government). Margolin: It wasn't over yet. The jury Hobson discusses at length several cases in which the Marshall court goes out and the judge says we've got abridged state powers. How Marshall did so through the contract clause a message from the jury. Juror num- and the con:merce power makes for an interesting story. The importance of ber seven wants to speak with us in these questions and the depth of the divisions they caused are evidenced by chambers. This juror says, "I work for the fact that a civil war was fought over them 25 years his death. the phone company and I've been Marshall's great contributions, according to Hobson, are not so much the employed by the FBI to put a tap on est~bhshment of the judiciary as a counterweight to the executive and legis- that witness's phone." So the judge latlv~ branches, but the development of the Court as the arbiter of questions says, "What do you want to do? Do relating to the structure of government and as an important player in the con- you want a mistrial?" I said, "No, let's solidation of national power. Anyone interested in American constitutional his- just do it." It was a not guilty verdict, tory will find this carefully researched and well-written book worthwhile. but I learned many a lesson from that. Je~frer Druckman is a sole practitioner in Portland and a member of the U.S. Continued on page 6 District Court Historical Society'S executive committee.

5 Margolin Interview continued

Rosenblum: How do you make a court- room scene in a book interesting? Margolin: Well, you make it as un- Selecting Art for the Courthouse like a real courtroom scene as possible.

According to Judge Malcolm Marsh, the goal of Rosenblum: Oh, great! the Portland Community Art Panel, which chose Margolin: It is really true, Courtroom art for the new Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Court- cases drag on, they're slow, there are house, was to select pieces that would "relax the lunch breaks, bathroom breaks. When tensions of approaching the Courthouse." you write, you just leave in the inter- "It was our hope," said Judge Marsh, "that esting stuff. You don't have to do re- the public would view the art as a calming influ- cesses, and of course I can set up my ence from the anxiety normally associated with cross-examination so that exciting court proceedings. The Art Panel did not want monolithic pieces of art tra- things happen. In my books I've never ditionally associated with halls of justice, but pieces that would attract people lost a motion to suppress. And if the to the Courthouse." judge rules against me, I just have his The Panel was made up of 16 volunteers, including local art profession- head cut off in the next chapter! als, community representatives, the building'S architect, and Judge Marsh (the U.S. District Court representative). In 1995 the group began the Rosenblum: Because you are a law- monumental task of selecting those who would create public art for the yer and like practicing law, do you new building. want to give the public a positive im- In choosing the artists, the Panel followed guidelines and criteria estab- age of the profession? lished by the Public Buildings Service of the U.S. General Services Adminis- Margolin: I try to portray lawyers in tration (GSA) under the Art-in-Architecture Program. That program was my books as being decent, hard-work- created in 1963, following the recommendation of President Kennedy's Ad- ing people who are not perfect. Obvi- Hoc Committee on Federal Office Space that, where appropriate, fine art ously, I want to make the books should be incorporated into the designs of federal buildings, with an emphasis entertaining, but I really get mad at on the work of living artists. lawyer bashing. I think law is an ex- Under the program, one-half of one percent of the estimated construction tremely honorable profession. I lived costs of a new federal building is allowed for public art, but for the Hatfield in a dictatorship in West Africa for a Courthouse, one full percent was used. Due to security requirements for the couple of years, where the government new courthouse, it was not possible to comply with certain city zoning regu- was very oppressive and you didn't lations requiring retail space on the ground floor, so additional money was have the right to representation. I see dedicated to art. lawyers as standing between the gov- After the GSA provided notice to artists nationwide, the Portland Art ernment and the people and helping Panel was deluged by over 220 proposals, which the Panel spent countless to represent them. hours reviewing. First, the group narrowed its choices to 50 artists, then to 30, 10, and finally (by unanimous vote) 4, who made their final presenta- Rosenblum: Have you used your exper- tions on October 30, 1995. They are- tise in the area of the battered woman syndrome in any of your fiction? • Eric Orr, who created the water sculptures in the lobby which, accord- Margolin: In The Burning Man I have ing to Judge Marsh, "offer a break from the normal austerity of courthouses;" a battered wife as a character. And I • Sandra Stone, who embedded historically significant words and phrases use the legal stuff I learned as a law- into the walls of the Courthouse, inviting a "walking conversation through yer-neutron activation analysis in one the building; book, blood splatter in another. The • Tom Otterness, who sculpted charming bronze creatures for the ninth new one, Undertaker's Widow, involves floor terrace that offer "whimsy and a critique of the court system;" and blood splatter. It is very important.

• Judith Poxson Fawkes, whose woven tapestries emphasize Oregon his- Rosenblum: How does it feel to fin- tory and grace the walls of the 16th floor ceremonial courtroom and lobby. ish a book? Interestingly, the Art Panel did not select any traditional paintings and, Margolin: It is really satisfying-like according to Judge Marsh, quickly bypassed traditional murals-perhaps winning a case. You know, everybody because portraits of the district court judges, scattered throughout the court- leaves the courthouse and you sit by house, already fulfill this role. yourself and say, "I don't have to do The Panel's insightful selections will surely touch people in many unex- any more, and it worked out pretty pected ways and allow for a broader view of the purposes of a courthouse. well. It wasn't perfect, but I did a good job. You really feel satisfied. Antonia De Meo, a member of our society's executive committee and an asso- ciate at Markowitz, Herbold, Glade & Mehlhaf, P.c., holds an art history Rosenblum: The difference between the two is that now you get royalties!

6 the light of ... family history, educa- Earlier, tion, preceding professional experi- during the ence, and myriad other factors, large summer of and small, revealed in the interview" 1985, Judge (pp.277-78). Goodwin And from the next paragraph: had talked "Oral testimony seems nowhere more about his ex- valuable than in its illumination of the perience in appointment process to federal judi- law school Judge Ted Goodwin: cial office ... [where] the merits of a at the Uni- fully biographical approach to the in- versity of The Intersection of the terview are especially clear .... A con- Ore g 0 n : Hon. Alfred T Goodwin Biographical and the trary interview approach, focusing "There are primarily on 'the institution' of the probably Institutional federal judiciary, might well begin not many lawyers who can look back with questioning about a judge's ap- on their law-school days and say it arah Ryan's invitation to profile an pointment. But can there be any doubt was one of the happiest times in their Soral-history interview I conducted that the meaning and significance of life. But for me it was a totally happy with U.S. Circuit Court Judge Alfred responses to questions about the ap- life. I had lived through a war which I T. (Ted) Goodwin has given me an pointment process ... are enhanced hadn't expected to live through. I had opportunity to return, after more than many times over in the context of found out that I really didn't want to ten years, to a pleasant personal ex- the candidate's personal life his- be a newspaperman all my life. And perience and a rich intellectual one. tory?" (p. 278). so I was doing something that I really The full interview with Judge Much of the rest of that 1988 ar- wanted to do: I wanted to be a law- Goodwin-some 23 hours in all-was ticle was taken up with arguing, in the yer.... I was being successful in an carried out in 13 separate sessions abstract, for the advantages of the life- area where it all depended entirely on between May 1985 and September history approach to judicial oral his- my own work ... [and this] did a lot 1986. Under the sponsorship of the tories in general and for the value of for my self-confidence and for my self- U.S. District Court of Oregon Histori- biographical information in under- image and for my own mental health. cal Society, this interview was one of standing a judge's experience during I just began to feel good about who I several with Oregon's veteran federal the appointment process in particular. was and what I was doing, and that's judges that I had planned to conduct Reference to the Goodwin oral history useful to a young person. The foun- in my job as oral historian of the Or- now gives me an opportunity to sug- dation for a lot of what's happened egon Historical Society. gest, more concretely and specifically, to me since then, I think, was being By 1988 I had finished interviews the kinds of connections we can draw laid with these early successes in law with four judges (John F. Kilkenny, between the personal (biographical) school." Gus J. Solomon, William G. East, and and the judicial (institutional). We see here a relationship-both Goodwin), and had begun a fifth (with In response to my questioning, in obvious and subtle-between the Otto R. Skopil, Jr.). An article writ- May 1986, about events leading up character-defining law-school experi- ten for Western Legal History that to his appointment to the District ence of young Ted Goodwin in the same year ("Oral Histories of the Fed- Court of Oregon by President Rich- early 1950s, on the one hand, and eral Courts: The Oregon Experience," ard M. Nixon in 1969, Judge Justice Goodwin's eager embrace of vol. 1, no. 2) gave me a chance to sum- Goodwin recalled some of his per- the possibility of new intellectual and marize results and suggest implica- sonal considerations in facing this personal challenges in 1969, on the tions for our impressive foundation of potential new job opportunity: other. This particular link between the oral-history interviews with Oregon "[People would ask], 'Well, why personal-biographical and the judi- federal judges. would you want to leave the Oregon cial-institutional is one of scores to be Now, in this brief profile of my in- Supreme Court and go be a federal found in the Goodwin oral history. terview with Judge Goodwin, I would judge at the trial-court level?' ... I said, Perceiving and reconstructing links like to return to a few of the issues 'Well, I'm 48 years old now and I fig- between the personal and the institu- raised in that article. In 1988 I wrote: ure I've got, if I'm lucky, about twenty tional are important aspects of our "As the interviewer for at least the first more years of active service as a judge. effort to understand and write history, several of the project's interviews, I ... I've been here [as a state supreme with its critical implications for was heartened that the sponsoring court justice ] long enough so I'm be- present and future. Biographical oral District Court Historical Society ginning to meet myself coming around histories, in their unique combination agreed to support full biographical again on different kinds of legal ques- of the life-historical and the institu- interviews, rather than interviews tions that come before the Oregon tional, are an increasingly vital form probing only the subject's federal court. And while I enjoy the work, I of evidence in the historian s quest. court experiences .... With this ap- think it would be a challenge to get Rick Harmon is editor of the Oregon proach a subject's federal judicial ca- into the federal side and try my hand Historical Quarterly. reer can be viewed and interpreted in at a different subject matter.'"

7 DIRECTORS OF THE SOCIETY OFFICERS Hon. Michael R. Hogan, Save the date! Board Chairman Jeffrey M. Batchelor, President SUNDAY, AUGUST 30 Hon. Ellen F. Rosenblum, Vice President/President Elect 1-4PM Ernest Bonyhadi, Treasurer and watch your mailbox Nancy]. Moriarty, Corporate/Executive Secretary for more information Albert J. Bannon, about the U.S. District Immediate Past President Court Historical Society's BOARD MEMBERS Hon. Anna]. Brown; Hon. James M. Burns; ANNUAL PICNIC. Hon. Wallace P. Carson, Jr.; Hon. Owen M. This is an event you won't Panner; Charles F. Adams; Dr. Donald G. Balmer; Paula A. Barran; Steve Brischetto; want to miss! Antonia M. DeMeo; Dr. Gordon B. Dodds; Jeffrey]. Druckman; Martin E. Hansen; Randall B. Kester; Judith D. Kobbervig; John H. Kottkamp; Prof. R. James Mooney; Bill Dale continued CORRECTION Chet Orloff; Peter A. Ozanne; Dennis P. We almost let this one go, but it does Rawlinson; Sarah]. Ryan; Norman Sepenuk; erected so the players could be intro- seem especially inappropriate for a his- Elizabeth Solomon; Richard B. Solomon; duced and duly acknowledged. torical society to record an inaccurate Caroline P. Stoel As we walked back to the court- history. So here goes-our first ever house, Bill didn't speak a word. He LIFETIME MEMBERS mistake!! We incorrectly reported that Jeffrey M. Batchelor, Hon. Robert C. never admitted it, but I bet he was the last trial in the Gus J. Solomon Belloni, Owen D. Blank, Raymond Conboy musing to himself, "If I had been a Courthouse was Leatherman Tool (membership given in memoriam), Paul T. little faster. If I could have jumped a Group v. Cooper Industries. Truth be Fortino, George H. Fraser, Edwin A. little higher. If my jump shot had had told, it was Greene v. Manufacturers' Harnden, Wayne Hilliard, Douglas G. a little more arch .... " Houser, Chester E. McCarty, Jeffrey S. Life, Civil No. 96-589, which took Mutnick, Daniel O'Leary, Hon. Owen M. Bill was proud to have been a law- place October 21-24, 1997 before Panner, Frank Pozzi (deceased), Sarah]. yer and judge, but I've always thought United States Magistrate Judge Janice Ryan, Arlene Schnitzer, John 1. Schwabe, that way down deep he would have M. Stewart. She commented, "I remem- Norman Sepenuk, Richard B. Solomon, preferred a champion's ring. ber it well because my chambers had Gayle 1. Troutwine, William F.White, and already been moved to the new court- Donald R. Wilson Clifford Olsen is a senior Oregon Cir- house, causing more than a few logis- Newsletter Editor: Carolyn M. Buan cuit Court judge. tical problems." Our apologies! (503) 224-8024; Design, Jeanne E. Galick

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