Robert E. Jones: An Oral History i ii Robert E. Jones An Oral History FOREWORD BY JUDGE OWEN PANNER US District Court of Oregon Historical Society Oral History Project Portland, Oregon iii Copyright © 2007 United States District Court of Oregon Historical Society Printed in the United States of America by Bridges to History PROJECT STAFF Donna Sinclair, Project Manager & Editor Clark Hansen, Interviewer Janice Dilg, Auditor & Designer Laura L. Ross, Transcriber Dane Bevan, Editorial Assistant iv CONTENTS Foreword...............................................................................................................................................vi Introduction.......................................................................................................................................viii Tape One, September 19, 2005...........................................................................................................1 Side 1—Family Background; Pearl Jensen and Military Service; Growing Up in Northeast Portland; The Great Depression; Working in the WWII Shipyards Side 2—WWII Shipyards, Cont.; The Great Depression; WWII, Portland, and Father; WWII, Military Service, and Race Tape Two, September 19, 2005.........................................................................................................15 Side 1—WWII & Military Service; Post WWII Portland; Home Insurance Company, Hawaii; Life Philosophy; Northwestern School of Law; General Adjustment Bureau Side 2—First Home: Woodland Park; Early Law Career; Oregon Trial Lawyers; Federal Court: Gus Solomon Tape Three, September 19, 2005......................................................................................................31 Side 1—Changing Practice of Law; The Local Bar; Oregon State Court; Oregon Bench: Profiles Side 2—Oregon Bench: Profiles, Cont.; Judicial Transitions; The Oregon Legislature, 1960s; Representing Washington County; Oregon Evidence Code Tape Four September 22, 2005.........................................................................................................47 Side 1—Criminal Sentencing; Sentencing and “James the Just”; Judicial Expertise; Circuit Court: Murder Cases Side 2—Circuit Court: Murder Cases, Cont.; Black Panther Cases; Largest Monetary Verdict in Oregon; Circuit Court Administration; National Federal Cases; Oregon Supreme Court Tape Five, September 29, 2005.........................................................................................................61 Side 1—Oregon Supreme Court Cont.; Oregon Supreme Court Cases; Oregon Constitution; Changes in Oregon Supreme Court Side 2—Federal Appointment; On the Federal Bench Tape Six,September 29, 2005............................................................................................................75 Side 1—On the Federal Bench: Eugene; On the Federal Bench: Portland; Pre-trial Preparation; Jury Selection; Opening Statements: Technology Side 2—Blank Tape Seven, October 14, 2005 (video-taped session)....................................................................83 Side 1—Ca�le Caper Case; Class Action Suits; Marianas and Russia; Out of District: Samoan Mafia Side 2—Controversial Cases; Difficult Decisions; Punishment and Reform; Juries; Difficulties in Federal Court; Court Practices Appendix A, The Family.................................................................. ................................................99 Appendix B, Meetings with the President and the Supremes ...............................................103 Appendix C, Robert. E. Jones: Almanac of the Federal Judiciary..........................................105 Endnotes.............................................................................................................................................110 v FOREWORD The Oral History Project of the District Court of Oregon Historical Society began in 1983. Through the efforts of Judge James Burns and his wife Helen, a gathering of lawyers, judges, and historians took place at the Society’s inception. The Honorable Robert F. Peckham, District Judge for the Northern District of California, discussed the Northern District Historical Society and the inspiration was born for Oregon’s District Court Historical Society, the second such organization in the country. The original Board of Directors of the Society was composed of twenty-one members with bylaws including the Presiding Judge of the Court, the Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, and the President and a representative of the Oregon State Bar. The original officers and directors included outstanding judges and lawyers – Judge John Kilkenny, Honorary Chair, Judge James Burns, Chairman, Randall Kester, President, Manley Strayer, Vice President, Elizabeth Buehler, Treasurer, Susan Graber, Corporate Secretary, and Robert M. Christ, Executive Secretary, along with many other top names in Oregon’s legal history. The Society decided to collect, study, preserve, analyze, and disseminate information concerning the history, development, character, operations, and accomplishments of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon. It was therefore logical that the Oral History Project should be established to preserve the histories of the judges, law firms, and lawyers who actively practice in the Court. With the assistance of Rick Harmon and James Strassmaier, the Oregon Historical Society held seminars to educate volunteers in taking oral histories with a biographical and Court-oriented focus. The Oregon Historical Society has been most vi cooperative in agreeing to maintain these histories in their permanent collection for study by scholars and other interested parties. These oral history interviews have been taken by recording devices, and are either transcribed or transcription is underway. A transcript reproduces, as faithfully as possible, the original sound recording that reflects the special value of oral history, namely its free and personal expressiveness. Most of the transcripts in the District Court Collection have been lightly edited and reviewed for clarity and accuracy by the narrators. That process continues. It is through these wonderful oral histories that the story of the Court is told. We now have recorded nearly 120 individuals since the project began. The goal is to record the individual histories of all the judges of the Court, as well as those of participating lawyers. The Court has a rich tradition reflected in the activities of the judges and lawyers of the Court. The recording has been done not only by professional historians, but also by dedicated volunteers. As one such volunteer said, “The opportunity to interview someone that you always admired is truly an exciting experience.” The history of the Court is being created by the men and women who have participated in its collection and activities. The Society’s goals are to collect as much of that history as possible, because is it the history of the law and those who make it that constitutes the moral development of humanity. All of us who are students of the law venerate it. We are also interested in the people who make it. Judge Owen Panner February 28, 2006 vii INTRODUCTION Robert E. Jones, Federal Judge for the US District Court of Oregon, was born on July 5, 1927 in Portland, Oregon, just before the Great Depression and only minutes shy of being a “Yankee Doodle Dandy Fourth of July baby.” Those few minutes made no difference in Robert Jones’ long-term service to country, however. He grew up on Portland’s old eastside, a�ending Rose City Park Grade School and Grant High School, where he met his future wife, Pearl Jensen, “the cutest blonde” in the school. During high school, while dating Pearl, he worked in Oregon’s WWII shipyards and played golf. He recalls being a four-year le�erman, winning the Oregon State High School Golf Championship, and the following week—one day a�er graduation in 1945—joining the Naval Reserves as a Cadet Midshipman. His military service took him to Italy and the Philippines, and he was commissioned as Ensign and as a line officer and later served in the Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps, retiring as a Navy Captain a�er service as commanding officer, OR Law Company 13-2. Judge Jones has had a long-lived and prestigious career in the law. He received his BA from the University of Hawaii in 1949 then a�ended Northwestern School of Law, receiving his JD in 1953. For ten years, he conducted a private practice as trial lawyer, serving as president of the Oregon Trial Lawyer’s Association in 1959. Jones is among those few who have served at multiple levels in the judicial system. His career as a judge began in 1963 when he went on the Multnomah County Circuit Court, 4th Judicial District, a role retained by him for the next twenty years. In 1983, he became an Oregon Supreme Court Justice, holding that position until May 1990 when he joined the US District Court of Oregon as a federal judge. Meanwhile, he has also served in various civic capacities, including a term in the Oregon House of Representatives in 1963. He has participated in the Oregon Evidence Revision Commission, the Oregon Criminal Justice Council, and he chaired the Oregon Commission on Prison Terms and Parole Standing. He has also chaired the Oregon State Bar’s Continuing Legal Education Commi�ee and the Ninth Circuit Court Judicial Conference. In addition to Jones’ judicial and civic career, he is a teacher, and has authored several articles. He taught Evidence, Trial Advocacy and Advanced Advocacy