Judge Edward Leavy (1929-2023)
We at the USDCHS have lost a great legal mind, a dear friend, and a joyous picnic instigator this week. Judge Edward Leavy passed away on March 13, 2023 after several months of hospice care. He was 93. We were last able to gratefully acknowledge Judge Leavy and the Leavy family at the Annual USDCHS Picnic at the Leavy family hop farm in August 2019, when we raised our voices in heartfelt tribute to Judge Leavy’s 90th birthday. Wonderful details about Judge Leavy and his remarkable career have been captured in his oral history, which can be found here and in this Oregon Benchmarks article (p. 11) talking about the…
White House Appoints U.S. Attorney Natalie Wight to Serve the District of Oregon
By Hon. Stacie F. Beckerman, U.S. Magistrate Judge On September 8, 2022, the U.S. Senate confirmed the White House’s appointment of Natalie Wight as the District of Oregon’s new U.S. Attorney. Chief U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez administered the oath of office to Wight at the U.S. Courthouse surrounded by her colleagues. Wight replaced U.S. Attorney Scott Asphaug, who served in an acting and interim role after former U.S. Attorney Billy Williams resigned in 2021. Wight has served as an attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice since 2003. She has been an Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) in the District of Oregon since 2012, working in both the Criminal…
Oral History: “As many different perspectives as possible”
By Joseph Carlisle The Oral History Committee of the U.S. District Court of Oregon Historical Society embraced another busy and successful year in 2021. Grappling with the challenges of the continuing pandemic, we learned to work through remote means. Special thanks to recent Oral History Committee member Crystal Chase. Our success in 2021 would not have been possible without her contributions. Thanks to the continued generous support of the Attorney Admissions Fund and with the help of Libby Provost at Historical Research Associates, as well as oral historians Greta Wisniewski, Makaela Kroin, and Janice Dilg, we worked on a total of six oral histories. Some oral histories have been in…
Roswell Lamson, Naval Hero and Clerk of the Court: “The People of Oregon Feel Proud to Call You Their Son”
By Richard Botteri When Roswell Lamson was appointed clerk of Oregon’s federal district court in 1877, he had already lived a life story deeply engrained with the state’s and nation’s history. The Oregon Trail. Indian wars. Slavery and secession. The first Oregonian to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy. The Civil War. Recognizing him as one of its best officers in that struggle, the navy named three destroyers for him in the twentieth century. An extraordinary life, largely forgotten now. History, however, is never settled. We study it to confirm the stories we already know, and to uncover the necessary stories yet to be told. Lamson’s story is one of…
Judge Teresa Pearson Joins the Bankruptcy Bench
On October 4, 2021, Teresa Pearson was sworn in as the newest bankruptcy judge for the District of Oregon. Judge Pearson succeeds Judge Trish M. Brown. Judge Brown swore in her successor in a short ceremony in Courtroom 2 at the Bankruptcy Court in Portland. The event was broadcast on Zoom for chambers and court employees working remotely. Judge Trish M. Brown retired on October 2 and is now on recall. Judge Pearson is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and received a Juris Doctor, with honors, from Duke University School of Law. She became a partner at Miller, Nash, Graham & Dunn LLP (formerly…