The First Duty: A History of the U.S. District Court of Oregon.

• Author: Graber, Susan P.

1. INTRODUCTION

   The First Duty: A History of the U.S. District Court for Oregon(1) is a project of the U.S. District Court of Oregon Historical Society, founded in 1984.(2) Edited by Carol M. Buan and with an introduction by historian Terence O'Donnell, the book is an illustrated collection of essays on the history of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon. Readers with an interest in Oregon history, legal history, or both will find much here, in a highly readable format, to further that interest.

   Each essay addresses a distinct time period in the history of the state and of the federal court. In the essay entitled "Oregon's First Federal Courts, 1849-1859," Caroline P. Stoel, adjunct associate professor of law at Portland State University, describes the era of the Oregon Territory and the earliest federal judicial appointments. Next, Professor Ralph James Mooney of the University of Oregon School of Law discusses "The Deady Years, 1859-1893." Following that essay is a description of "The Years of Growth, 1893-1927," co-authored by Todd A. Peterson, a Portland lawyer in private practice, and Jack G. Collins, a lawyer in the United States Attorney's office for Oregon. Randall B. Kester, also a Portland lawyer in private practice, examines "A Time of Change, 1927-1950." Finally, Laurie Bennett Mapes, a faculty member at the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College, describes "A Period of Complexity, 1950-1991." In all, The First Duty portrays more than a century and a half of federal adjudication in Oregon.

   Despite its ambitious scope, the book provides a pleasant journey through that chronology. The chapters helpfully divide into discrete areas of discussion, the prose is generally clear and concise, and the text highlights numerous accounts of lively and interesting episodes in the history of the court and of Oregon itself. For those seeking more detail, ample footnotes provide guideposts to additional travels through the landscape of Oregon's federal judicial history. My own tour through that landscape revealed several significant features.

2. THE INFLUENCE OF POLITICS AND PERSONALITY

   First, each of the essays in this book, whether intentionally or not, discloses the significant effect of politics and personalities on the judicial process. Politics and personality influence both the selection of federal judges and their performance on the bench.

   As the book reveals, being appointed to a federal judgeship has always been a largely political process. Evidence for this is found in the earliest days of the Oregon Territory, when Judge William P. Bryant was appointed, in the words of Caroline P. Stoel, "as a reward for supporting [James K.] Polk's successful 1844 campaign for the presidency,"(3) or from the modern era, when, for example, McCarthy-era allegations of Communist sympathies nearly derailed Judge Gus Solomon's confirmation by the United States Senate.(4)

   The authors also reveal how the business of judging reflects the political and personal persuasions of individual judges, sometimes to the peril of the judicial process itself. Fortunately, the more negative examples spring largely from the early days of the federal court. As...