Does Geography Affect Appointments to the Supreme Court?

It certainly used to.

Perhaps the most obvious examples are those from the early 19th century.  Appointments of new justices were once tied to the creation of new circuit courts.  And that was for good reason:  Circuit courts were not the intermediate courts of appeals of today (with few exceptions, the most notable of which were the “Midnight Judges” that served from 1801 until 1802); they were largely nisi prius courts, functioning alongside district courts, with only limited appellate review.  But they did not have their own judges.  Various combinations of justices from the Supreme Court and judges from the district courts sat to form the circuit courts.

When Congress created the Seventh Circuit in 1807, therefore, which consisted of the new states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio, it required that the new justice assigned to that seat hail from there.  The result was Jefferson’s appointment of Thomas Todd of Kentucky. 

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Memorial Service on Friday

Memory plays an especially large role in our profession. Lawyers are constantly looking to the past, whether their particular focus is on the law (e.g., precedents of courts or enacted statutes) or on the facts (e.g., the primary conduct underlying legal disputes). The death earlier this week of Michael R. Wherry, L’62, “a very fine lawyer and human being,” as a colleague downtown put it to me, particularly brings the matter to my mind. (I recall Mike himself remembering his father, the late Ray P. Wherry, L’37, and his view of Marquette Law School a few years ago.) So, too, does an event tomorrow: the Milwaukee Bar Association’s annual Memorial Service. I blogged about this last year, after the fact, and was able to share Tom Cannon’s remembrance of his father, Judge Robert C. Cannon, L’41. This year’s Memorial Address will be delivered by Michael B. Brennan, formerly of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court and now of Gass Weber Mullins: I have no doubt that he will particularly remember his father, the late James P. Brennan, L’60. This year’s ceremony will occur tomorrow (Friday, April 30) at 10:45 a.m. in the Ceremonial Courtroom (Room 500) of the Milwaukee County Courthouse. The Memorial Service is a fine tradition, and I hope that members of the bar in particular will continue to support it by attending. For it is a salutary reminder that we as lawyers stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us in the profession—and it is an enjoyable event as well.

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Marquette 2009-10 Moot Court Program Achievements

The close of the school year is a good time to reflect on our students’ accomplishments in the 2009-10 Moot Court Program.

First, a summary of the efforts of the mostly third-year students who competed in what we call the “national competitions,” i.e., competitions among students from different law schools.  This year, 40 Marquette Law School students in 15 teams competed in 12 different competitions, in various locations throughout the United States.

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