Jean Sala Breitenstein
| Publication year | 1996 |
| Pages | 3 |
| Citation | Vol. 25 No. 7 Pg. 3 |
1996, July, Pg. 3. JEAN SALA BREITENSTEIN
For thirty years Jean Sala Breitenstein was a very active and successful practitioner of the law, and for thirty-two years thereafter he served with great distinction as a federal judge: three years as a U.S. District Court judge for the District of Colorado and twenty-nine years as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. His almost unrivaled record eminently qualifies him for inclusion in the "Six of the Greatest" hall of fame.
Jean Breitenstein was born in Keokuk, Iowa, on July 18, 1900, the son of George J. Breitenstein and Ida Sala Breitenstein. In 1907, the Breitenstein family moved from Keokuk to Boulder, Colorado, where Judge Breitenstein grew to adulthood. He served in the Army in World War I and then returned to Boulder where he received a bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado in 1922 and an LL.B. in 1924. Judge Breitenstein passed the Colorado bar examination in 1923, a year before his graduation from law school, and he had to complete his legal studies before being formally admitted to the Colorado Bar. He was a member of both Phi Beta Kappa and the Order of the Coif, tangible evidence that he possessed an unusually brilliant mind.
On July 8, 1925, Jean Breitenstein married Helen Thomas, a Bostonian who had come to the University of Colorado from Radcliffe College to complete her college education. She met the judge at a picnic. The Breitensteins had two children: a daughter, Eleanore Breitenstein Wilfley, and a son, Peter Breitenstein, a Denver attorney.
Upon admission to the bar, Jean Breitenstein moved to Craig, Colorado, where he practiced law briefly---it is there he first became interested in water law. In 1925, he moved to Denver and served until 1929 as an Assistant Attorney General for the state of Colorado. In 1929, he joined the staff of U.S. Attorney Ralph Carr(fn1) as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, a post he kept
Jean Breitenstein was a sole practitioner, although he officed for many years with Ralph Carr, the former U.S. Attorney and later a popular governor of Colorado. Jean Breitenstein soon gained fame as a water lawyer. He represented the state of Colorado in numerous water cases and negotiations and became so well versed that he was considered the pre-eminent authority on water law in the entire West. He argued many cases in the U.S. Supreme Court during his twenty-two years in private practice.
A revealing incident occurred during one of these arguments. The justices then (as now) often whispered asides to one another during oral arguments. On this particular occasion, Justice Frankfurter, during Jean Breitenstein's argument, whispered to a justice sitting next to him, but in a very audible voice clearly heard by those present: "You want to listen to this guy; he knows what he's talking about." Indeed, Jean Breitenstein always did know what he was talking about, and his record as a water lawyer, particularly before the highest Court, was outstanding.
Before his appointment to the bench, Jean Breitenstein contributed extensively to the legal profession. He served as chairman of the Colorado Supreme Court Rules Committee, which was responsible for the adoption of essentially the same civil rules for Colorado courts as the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Moreover, he served as president of the Colorado Bar Association in 1952-53.
Jean Breitenstein was appointed to the federal district bench by President Dwight Eisenhower on April 27, 1954, to fill a newly created judgeship. He served with Judge William Lee Knous(fn2) on that court until June 1957, when he was appointed by President Eisenhower to the Tenth Circuit. In June 1970, he took senior status but there was no change thereafter in his work habits. Indeed, he worked virtually full-time until his death on January...
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