University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review Volume 8 Issue 3 Article 1 1985 Jacob Trieber: Lawyer, Politician, Judge Hon. Gerald W. Heaney Follow this and additional works at: https://lawrepository.ualr.edu/lawreview Part of the Legal Biography Commons Recommended Citation Hon. Gerald W. Heaney, Jacob Trieber: Lawyer, Politician, Judge, 8 U. ARK. LITTLE ROCK L. REV. 421 (1986). Available at: https://lawrepository.ualr.edu/lawreview/vol8/iss3/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Bowen Law Repository: Scholarship & Archives. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review by an authorized editor of Bowen Law Repository: Scholarship & Archives. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK LAW JOURNAL VOLUME 8 1985-86 NUMBER 3 JACOB TRIEBER: LAWYER, POLITICIAN, JUDGE Hon. Gerald W. Heaney* PROLOGUE On July 26, 1900, President William McKinley appointed Jacob Trieber of Helena, Arkansas, to be the United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas. That he deserved the appointment was conceded by Republicans and Democrats alike. He was a man of intelligence, compassion, and integrity, a brilliant lawyer with a reputa- tion for hard work, an active, committed Republican with an unequaled record of service to the party and, most of all, an Arkansan who worked on every worthwhile civic project at the state and local level. The appointment was, however, a miracle of no small proportions: he was a Prussian immigrant of modest means, with no college or law school training, a member of a two-man law firm in a small Arkansas town, and a Jew aspiring to a position that no Jew in the history of the United States had held and in a state where the Jewish voting popula- tion was minuscule. But appointed he was, and the appointment * Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The author gratefully ac- knowledges the Adler-Rosecan Foundation which made possible the research efforts of Melanie R. Carlson and Henry G. Watkins I1l, students at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law. He also acknowledges J. Marshall Trieber, Carolyn LeMaster, and the Arkansas Histori- cal Commission for the valuable information they provided; his secretaries, Elda E. Ignatius and Mary L. Bibbey; and his law clerks Gary R. Ostos-Irwin, Colleen V. Short, Ann L. Iijima, and Dean A. Rindy, for their assistance in research and writing. UALR LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 8:421 brought credit to President McKinley and to the political and bar lead- ers who supported him. The appointment was particularly well received by the general populace, who were pleased that for the first time since the Civil War, one of their own, rather than a northerner, had been named to this important position. Jacob Trieber served as judge for twenty-seven years and became one of the nation's most distinguished jurists and renowned constitu- tional scholars. Perhaps his most significant opinion came in 1903 in the infamous Whitecapping (Ku Klux Klan) case in which he became the first judge to squarely hold that federal law protects blacks from racial discrimination in employment. The Supreme Court reversed him, paving the way for decades of discrimination by holding that federal law provides blacks with no such protection. Judge Trieber's view was vindicated sixty-five years later, in 1968, when the Supreme Court overruled its Whitecapping opinion. The article that follows highlights Jacob.Trieber's career as a lawyer, a politician, and a judge, and exam- ines some of his more important opinions. RASCHKOW TO HELENA (1853-1876) Morris and Blume Trieber found conditions improving in the tiny village of Raschkow, Prussia (now Germany), by 1868. Nevertheless, it was in that year that they decided to leave. Immigration to America would not be easy, but after months of talking, praying, and worrying, they were firm in their resolve: their youngest son Jacob would grow up as an American. The decision was a difficult one. Morris and Blume had strong and long-standing ties to their community and country. They had a good home in the village of Raschkow. Blume's father, David Brodeck, and his father before him had been respected rabbis and community lead- ers. The Trieber family's religious roots and exemplary living brought them the friendship and respect of their neighbors. Their wholesale linen business in nearby Breslau provided a modest living. More impor- tantly, the two middle children, Conrad and Johanna, were unwilling to leave Prussia.' Powerful forces, however, drew Morris and Blume to America. They longed to be with their eldest son, David, who had immigrated a few years earlier and settled in St. Louis, Missouri, where he operated 1. Conrad, a student at the University of Frankfurt, remained as a professor of Latin dialects at that institution until his death. Johanna subsequently immigrated to St. Louis, Missouri, and married Charles Punch. She resided there until her death. 1985-86] JACOB TRIEBER a retail business. Their principal concern, however, was their thirteen- year-old son Jacob. He was an exceptional child. Born on October 6, 1853, he was an intelligent and conscientious student who had done better in the gymnasium (high school) than any of their other children. Although in good health, he was small of stature. Morris and Blume dreaded the day that he would be drafted into the Prussian Army and assigned to an infantry company, the fate of most Jewish conscripts. Further, even though life for Prussian Jews had improved consid- erably since the liberalizing revolutions that took place in Western Eu- rope beginning in 1848, employment opportunities for Jewish youths from middle-class families were still very limited.2 In all probability, Jacob would be restricted to his family's mercantile business or to teaching. Moreover, Jews were excluded from judicial, administrative, and other offices which were connected with the Christian character of the state. Conrad and Johanna argued that conditions would continue to im- prove for Prussian Jews, but Morris and Blume would not be con- vinced. Prussia was in a constant state of political flux. The Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, governed Prussia with little regard for its constitu- tion. A militaristic Germany did not offer the future that the Triebers hoped for.3 On the other hand, America was the land of opportunity. Lincoln had freed the slaves and proclaimed the principle of equal op- portunity for all. Certainly, Jacob would be able to develop his talents to the fullest in the United States. With these thoughts in mind, the Triebers sold their business, gathered their belongings, and immigrated to America. They were reunited with their son, David, in St. Louis on June 1, 1866. Eleven years later, on March 15, 1887, Jacob Trieber became a United States citizen. The Triebers stayed in St. Louis for two years and worked with David in his retail business." Jacob enrolled in high school. He quickly realized that he was ahead of his schoolmates in all subjects except English. He struck a bargain With one of his teachers: German lessons in exchange for English lessons. To help support his family, he worked evenings and weekends as a newsboy and a theater usher. 2. See I. ELBOGEN, A CENTURY OF JEWISH LIFE 3-17 (1944); H. SACHAR. THE COURSE OF MODERN JEWISH HISTORY 107-16 (1958). 3. The realm of Prussia was greatly increased by the war of 1866 which extended the Prus- sian constitution over the regions of Schleswig-Holstein, Hanover, and Hesse-Kessel. ELBOGEN, supra note 2, at 16. By 1870, Bismarck had created the German Empire "out of the blood and iron of the Franco-Prussian War" by uniting Germany's principalities against "the bogey of a common French enemy." SACHAR, supra note 2, at 221. 4. David Trieber died in 1886, Blume in 1895, and Morris in 1898. 424 UALR LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 8:421 In 1868, the Trieber family moved to Helena, Arkansas. Helena promised more opportunities for immigrants than St. Louis. It was a growing Mississippi rivertown, and many believed that it would soon rival Memphis as a center for trade. Moreover, there was a small but growing Jewish population in that community, and it was important to the Triebers that they continue to participate in the religious life of their people.8 In Helena, Morris and David Trieber opened a dry goods store. Jacob helped support himself by keeping the store's books. He wanted to be a lawyer, however, and eventually a judge. The opportunity came in 1873 when, at the age of twenty, he made an arrangement to "read the law" with Marshall L. Stephenson of Helena, a former justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court. He worked in Stephenson's office during the day and during nights as an assistant to the Clerk of the Circuit Court. Typewriters were unknown at that time so Jacob became an expert scrivener, preparing copies of legal papers. Eventually, he mas- tered the English language and the law. In 1876, he was admitted to the Arkansas Bar and soon thereafter formed a partnership with L.C. Stephenson, Marshall's brother. In 1878, L.C. Stephenson moved to Colorado, and Marshall returned to Helena and resumed the practice of law with Jacob Trieber. It was from this platform that Jacob Trieber launched his career as lawyer, banker, businessman, politician, and judge. THE HELENA YEARS (1876-1897) The law firm of Stephenson & Trieber was successful from the start. The firm not only had a good commercial practice, but the part- ners were kindred souls-both loved the law, business, and politics.6 Involving himself in business ventures, Jacob bought and sold real estate, lent small sums of money, and undertook, with his friend Harry Tappan, the construction of the Tappan Building on the main street of Helena.