Alumni in History

Creating a New Court System Newly appointed as acting Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, Douglas Amdahl faced the problem of selling a whole new judicial system to the public.  When he was first sworn in as an associate justice in 1980, he quickly learned that the Minnesota Supreme Court was at the edge of a breaking point.  The …

Read more: Douglas Amdahl (MMCL 1951)

Justice Albert Angstman graduated from St. Paul College of Law in 1912. He was the first person attending any of Minnesota’s night schools to serve on a state supreme court. After graduating from law school and passing the Minnesota and Montana bar examinations Angstman moved to Helena, Montana.  He served in the U.S. Naval Reserves in World War I.   Prior …

Read more: Albert Henry Angstman (SPCL 1912)

The Accidental Senator The Farmer-Labor battle over who would succeed the larger-than-life Floyd B. Olson (NwCL ‘15) as governor of Minnesota was contentious. As governor, Olson had worked his way through several major labor battles, from a trucker’s strike in 1934 to a demonstration by farmers who brought their starving cattle to the Capitol lawn to demand feed appropriations. But, …

Read more: Elmer Benson (SPCL 1918)

Chief Justice of the United States Warren Burger rose from Midwestern roots to become one of the longest serving Chief Justices in the Court’s history. In American history, only John Marshall, Roger Brooke Taney, and Melville Fuller had longer tenures as Chief Justices when Chief Justice Burger retired. Warren Burger’s Early Years Warren E. Burger was born on September 17, …

Read more: Warren E. Burger (SPCL 1931)

Judge Gail Chang Bohr’s childhood in Jamaica, West Indies, a British colony, prepared her well to be an advocate for children and a Minnesota District Court judge.  Bohr was born to Percy and Alice Chang on March 25, 1944, in Kingston, Jamaica.  Her Chinese name, Gui-Ying, is also the name of a historic woman warrior.  Her English name Gail Margaret …

Read more: Gail Chang Bohr (WMCL 1991)

A Separation of Powers Dispute In 1957, Minnesota was facing a political controversy over daylight savings time and Chief Justice Dell was facing a legal ethics conundrum. Although daylight savings time had been utilized during both World Wars, the debate about whether to make it permanent came to a head in that year’s legislative session. The legislation that was passed …

Read more: Roger L. Dell (SPCL 1920)

William DeParcq said he “had not put too much strain on his brain” during his grade and high school years.  However, the trajectory of his life changed dramatically when he was 18 years old, and an automobile accident left him paralyzed from the waist down.  Throughout his life, he managed the difficulties resulting from his disability without complaint.    In fact, …

Read more: William H. DeParcq (SPCL 1930)

Standing up to Terror When William Francis and his wife Nellie found a cross burning on their property yet again, they faced the dilemma of many African Americans who have suffered through this terror from Reconstruction days on.  Even today in Minnesota, African Americans are not free from the scourge of cross-burning, as evidenced in R.A.V. v. City of St. …

Read more: William T. Francis (SPCL 1904)

Sarah Roslyn Gensler (later Gensler Schwartz) was born on April 15, 1901 and came to the United States from Austria with her parents, Louis and Rose (Rosenranch) Gensler, in 1903, when she was two years old. Her family was part of the second wave of Jewish immigrants coming from German-speaking countries in Europe to Minnesota. The first wave, which ended …

Read more: Sarah Roslyn Gensler Schwartz (MNCL 1922)

Breaking the County Attorney’s Office Barrier Phyllis Gene (Bambusch) Jones was the first woman to serve as an attorney in any County Attorney’s office in the State of Minnesota. She was appointed Assistant County Attorney of Ramsey County in 1960, the year she graduated from William Mitchell College of Law, one of three women in her class. She served in …

Read more: Phyllis Gene Jones (WMCL 1960)

Racial Justice in the National Guard In February 1941, the controversy between prominent Black Minnesotans and Minnesota governors over remedying discrimination in Minnesota’s home security force came to a head and alumnus Maceo Littlejohn was at the center of it. After the Minnesota National Guard was federalized and deployed to fight in World War I, the state was left without …

Read more: Maceo Littlejohn (SPCL 1926)

Carrying on a Legacy of Firsts He remembered hard times during the Depression, but he didn’t ever go hungry. Perhaps because his stepfather was a government meat inspector, he could make snacks for himself from the beef tenderloin in the refrigerator. He yearned for, and got, a bicycle, though a used one, when many had little. Judge Stephen L. Maxwell …

Read more: Stephen L. Maxwell (SPCL 1953)

Early Legal Career Martin Nelson graduated from St. Paul College of Law with an LL.B. in 1916 and began practicing law in St. Paul. He served in the legal department of Capital Trust Savings, doing title work and property litigation. During World War I, he enlisted in in the Army aviation corps in 1917, serving as an aviation instructor on …

Read more: Martin A. Nelson (SPCL 1916)

A Lawyer, a Judge and a Soldier Although she does not fully receive credit as a “first” due to the length of time she served, Mary Eleanor Nolan became the first woman judge in Minnesota when she was elected municipal judge in a special election in 1941. During law school, Nolan worked for the Minnesota State Legislature, the State Banking …

Read more: Mary Eleanor “Ellie” Nolan (SPCL 1936)

A Judge Who Listened to the Victim Hennepin County District Judge William Posten faced a dilemma in a rape case.  A 65-year-old woman had been through an unimaginable ordeal:  a 25-year-old drunken man had broken into her home through the kitchen window.  When she woke up and went to investigate, he dragged her from the kitchen into the bedroom, covered …

Read more: William Scott Posten (WMCL 1959)

The Dilemma of an Unwise Law Judge John B. Sanborn, Jr. was in the uncomfortable position in which judges often find themselves, between loyalty to the black letter law and their own best judgment. The state of Minnesota was in the thick of the law enforcement effort known as Prohibition. The 18th Amendment, prohibiting the manufacture, sale, or transportation of …

Read more: John B. Sanborn, Jr. (SPCL 1907)

Thomas David Schall was a United States Representative and Senator, perhaps best known as the first blind member of the House of Representatives, and the first blind Senator from Minnesota.  He served as a Representative from Minnesota’s 10th District from 1915-1925. He ran as a Progressive from 1915-1919, returning to the Republican Party thereafter.  He then was elected and served as …

Read more: Senator Thomas D. Schall (SPCL 1904)

Judge Susanne Sedgwick held court in the Bloomington City Council chambers, which doubled as a suburban outpost of the Hennepin County municipal courts.  A student who observed her in action one day wrote about the experience, starting with: “She smiled at me as I walked into the courtroom.” In the case being observed, the defendant was charged with Driving While …

Read more: Susanne Sedgwick (WMCL 1956)

A Public Accommodations Crusade In December 1916, Dr. W. Ellis Burton and attorney Lena O. Smith (NwCL 1921) went to the Pantages Theatre on Hennepin Avenue in the heart of Minneapolis’ entertainment district, joined by their friends L. C. Valle, Oscar C. Press and the young attorney Rufus Augustine Skinner.  The theater, built in 1916 and originally used for vaudeville, …

Read more: Rufus Augustine (R. A.) Skinner (NWCL 1915)

Standing Up for the Right to Establish a Home During a hot July week in 1931, thousands of people milled about outside a small house at 4600 Columbus Avenue in Minneapolis.  They gathered each night to terrorize the Black family who had bought the house—Arthur, Edith, and their young daughter, Mary, Lee—hoping that hate and fear would convince them to …

Read more: Lena Olive Smith (NWCL 1921)

By Catherine HinchliffPosted on HistoryLink.orgon 5/15/2009HistoryLink.org Essay 9011 Elmer Stuart Smith was a central figure in the Centralia Massacre that occurred on November 11, 1919. Smith had advised a group of Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) members that they had a right to defend their hall against a planned raid. The following week, the American Legion and the IWW …

Read more: Elmer Smith (SPCL 1913)

Taking down a Gangster Assistant U.S. Attorney G. Aaron Youngquist was responsible for supervising the biggest case of his career. Alphonse (Al) Capone had taken over the Chicago mob empire of Johnny “the Fox” Torrio, who would be named by IRS Enforcement Branch chief Elmer Irey “the father of American gangsterism.” He had expanded the mob business quickly, earning as …

Read more: Gustav Aaron Youngquist (SPCL 1909)