De Jonge v. Oregon: 1930s Case Revisited in Famous Cases program
By Doug Pahl June 8, 2017 marked the return of the Famous Cases program. Before a gathering in the 16th-floor courtroom at the Hatfield Courthouse, Marc Brown, chief deputy defender with the Oregon Office of Public Defense Services, brought to life Dirk De Jonge and 1930s Portland. De Jonge was arrested, tried, and convicted for participating in a meeting sponsored by the Communist Party to discuss significant labor issues then unfolding in Portland. Brown described the context of the times and De Jonge’s role in them, including what ultimately became the Famous Case of De Jonge v. Oregon, 299 U.S. 353 (1937). In the summer of 1934, the nation was…
Judge Anna J. Brown Takes Senior Status: (Creating the Potential of Just the Fourth Oregon Woman to Serve as U.S. District Judge in the Court’s 158-Year History)
By Heather Van Meter After 25 years as a trial judge, including nearly 18 years serving as an Article III judge for the District of Oregon, Judge Anna Jaeger Brown will transition to “senior status” on July 27, 2017, which will create a vacancy on Oregon’s U.S. District Court to be filled by presidential nomination and confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Judge Brown plans to reduce her caseload and work less, with greater ability to select her caseload and control her time. She looks forward to having more time to be with her husband, Paul, to whom she has been married for nearly 40 years, and with her large extended…
The End of an Era: James A. Redden Closes His Chambers
By Michele Friedman A remarkable chapter in Oregon history came to a quiet close on March 31, 2017, when, at the age of 88, Senior U.S. District Judge James A. Redden closed his judicial chambers and went home to be with his beloved high school sweetheart and wife of over 50 years, Joan. Judge Redden’s enormous contribution to the local and national legal community is well documented, though the public and the bar should note his public service included time in the military as well as work in both the legislative and executive branches of government. Judge Redden was a prolific correspondent, and fortunately for all of us, kept copies…
Courting History
By Christian Carlson On a sunny Friday afternoon in March, 2017, U.S. Magistrate Judge John Jelderks treated externs, law clerks, and USDCHS board members to a tour of both his chambers and courtroom at the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse, and a tour of the Gus J. Solomon U.S. Courthouse. The tour began in Judge Jelderks’s chambers where he noted how fortunate he and other Oregon federal judges are to have such tremendous views of Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens. With the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse hosting a judicial conference that same week, Judge Jelderks noted that the courthouse’s prodigious views were not lost on his colleagues from…
Charter of the Forest Lecture
By Kathryn Roberts On April 10, the USDCHS welcomed Prof. Joshua C. Tate to the Hatfield Courthouse for his presentation “Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest.” Professor Tate teaches at the SMU Dedman School of Law in Dallas. The presentation to introduced and investigated the Charter of the Forest, a document that, although roughly contemporaneous to Magna Carta (1215), receives far less attention. Promulgated in 1217, the Charter of the Forest governed matters associated with the royal forest lands under King John. At the time, the royal forest comprised approximately one-third of the land in England. The charter had three primary aims; reduce the overall area of the royal…