James Alger Fee
Encyclopedia
James Alger Fee was a United States federal judge
from Oregon
. He served as a federal district court judge in Portland, Oregon
, and as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
in the 1950s. A veteran of the United States Army
, his first judicial position was with the Oregon Circuit Court. While a federal judge he made national news for his decision during World War II
regarding the application of the exclusion orders that had forced those of Japanese heritage from the West Coast
.
in the city of Pendleton
on September 24, 1888. He went to college in Walla Walla, Washington
, at Whitman College
. There he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
in 1910 and was a member of the Gamma Zeta Chapter of the Beta Theta Pi
fraternity. He then moved to New York City
and earned a master’s degree at Columbia University
. After this Fee went on to law school at Columbia’s law school
, graduating in 1914 with a Bachelor of Laws
degree.
in 1914, and entered private practice in his hometown of Pendleton. In 1916, he began serving as that city’s attorney, staying until 1917 when he joined the Army’s Air Corps as a lieutenant. Fee remained with the United States Army until 1919 when moved to the United States War Department as a member of the legal staff. In 1920, he left the War Department and returned to Pendleton and private practice.
In 1927, Fee left private practice to start a judicial career, serving as on the Oregon Circuit Court from 1927 to 1931. On March 18, 1931, President Herbert Hoover
appointed Fee to Oregon’s federal district court
to replace Robert S. Bean
who had died in office. This was a recess appointment
, with Fee starting immediately, but he was later confirmed by the United States Senate
on December 22, 1931, with him receiving his commission the following day. Beginning in 1948 through April 30, 1954, he served as the court’s chief judge, leaving that position when he left the court.
During his over twenty years on the district court he ruled on a variety of topics. In United States v. Earnest F. Cramer and E. R. Cramer, Fee ruled that Native Americans through treaties they signed in the 19th century had superior fishing rights over non-Native Americans at places such as Celilo Falls
. In 1952, Fee decided two cases concerning the 1948 flood of Vanport, Oregon
. He ruled that the government was not liable for the damage caused to the residents’ property.
Some other cases included a labor dispute involving Montgomery Ward
, holding the Methodist Episcopal Church
legally obligated to pay bondholders on defaulted bonds they issued to build a hospital, and even refused to appoint a commissioner for Crater Lake National Park
. He also ruled on the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II
, presided over a case in Pennsylvania
, and signed off on the condemnation of the water company serving Salem, Oregon
, as that city took over the water supply.
On April 6, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower
nominated Fee to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
. The Senate confirmed him on April 23, and he received his commission on April 30, replacing Clifton Mathews
on the court. Fee moved to San Francisco, California
where the court’s main office is located, where he served until his death. In 1957, he wrote the opinion in Bartholomae Corp. v. United States, 253 F.2d 716 (9th Cir. 1957), that refused to hold the federal government liable for damages related to nuclear bomb testing in 1951.
, a native Oregonian of Japanese descent who was on trial for breaking curfew. The curfew had been imposed by the United States Army’s General John L. DeWitt
under the authority of President Franklin Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066
that began the Japanese American internment
after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The curfew only applied to those of Japanese heritage, with Yasui being the first person to be arrested for violating the curfew. This case would make it all the way to the United States Supreme Court. The decision to take this trial to the Supreme Court made national news.
Yasui was an attorney who was a U.S. Army reservist and, until the start of the war, worked for the Japanese consulate in Chicago, Illinois. The trial was held at the Federal Courthouse
in downtown Portland where Yasui had broken the curfew. Fee determined in his ruling for the case that the curfew could only apply to aliens, as martial law
had not been declared. However, he also ruled that because Yasui had worked for the Japanese government that he had forfeited his citizenship so that the curfew did apply to him. Fee sentenced Yasui to 1 year in jail, served at the Multnomah County Jail. Meanwhile, his case went on appeal until reaching the Supreme Court of the United States as Yasui v. United States
, (320 U.S. 115) with that court determining the opposite of Fee, that Yasui was a citizen, but the curfew did apply to citizens. After the Supreme Court returned the case to Fee for re-evaluation, he affirmed the conviction on the grounds the Supreme Court had determined.
on September 11, 1897, and died on September 21, 1995. They did not have any children. James Alger Fee died on August 25, 1959.
United States federal judge
In the United States, the title of federal judge usually means a judge appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate in accordance with Article II of the United States Constitution....
from Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. He served as a federal district court judge in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, and as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Alaska* District of Arizona...
in the 1950s. A veteran of the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, his first judicial position was with the Oregon Circuit Court. While a federal judge he made national news for his decision during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
regarding the application of the exclusion orders that had forced those of Japanese heritage from the West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
.
Early life
James Alger was born in Eastern OregonEastern Oregon
Eastern Oregon is the eastern part of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is not an officially recognized geographic entity, thus the boundaries of the region vary according to context. It is sometimes understood to include only the eight easternmost counties in the state; in other contexts, it includes...
in the city of Pendleton
Pendleton, Oregon
Pendleton is a city in Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. Pendleton was named in 1868 by the county commissioners for George H. Pendleton, Democratic candidate for Vice-President in the 1864 presidential campaign. The population was 16,612 at the 2010 census...
on September 24, 1888. He went to college in Walla Walla, Washington
Walla Walla, Washington
Walla Walla is the largest city in and the county seat of Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. The population was 31,731 at the 2010 census...
, at Whitman College
Whitman College
Whitman College is a private, co-educational, non-sectarian, residential undergraduate liberal arts college located in Walla Walla, Washington. Initially founded as a seminary by a territorial legislative charter in 1859, the school became a four year degree granting institution in 1883...
. There he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 1910 and was a member of the Gamma Zeta Chapter of the Beta Theta Pi
Beta Theta Pi
Beta Theta Pi , often just called Beta, is a social collegiate fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, USA, where it is part of the Miami Triad which includes Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Chi. It has over 138 active chapters and colonies in the United States and Canada...
fraternity. He then moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and earned a master’s degree at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. After this Fee went on to law school at Columbia’s law school
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...
, graduating in 1914 with a Bachelor of Laws
Bachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...
degree.
Legal career
Fee returned to Oregon where he passed the barBar (law)
Bar in a legal context has three possible meanings: the division of a courtroom between its working and public areas; the process of qualifying to practice law; and the legal profession.-Courtroom division:...
in 1914, and entered private practice in his hometown of Pendleton. In 1916, he began serving as that city’s attorney, staying until 1917 when he joined the Army’s Air Corps as a lieutenant. Fee remained with the United States Army until 1919 when moved to the United States War Department as a member of the legal staff. In 1920, he left the War Department and returned to Pendleton and private practice.
In 1927, Fee left private practice to start a judicial career, serving as on the Oregon Circuit Court from 1927 to 1931. On March 18, 1931, President Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
appointed Fee to Oregon’s federal district court
United States District Court for the District of Oregon
The United States District Court for the District of Oregon is the Federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the state of Oregon. It was created in 1859 when the state was admitted to the Union...
to replace Robert S. Bean
Robert S. Bean
Robert Sharp Bean was an American attorney and judge in the state of Oregon. He was the 16th Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, serving as chief justice three different times. Bean was on the state’ highest court from 1890 to 1909 when he was appointed as a judge for the United States...
who had died in office. This was a recess appointment
Recess appointment
A recess appointment is the appointment, by the President of the United States, of a senior federal official while the U.S. Senate is in recess. The U.S. Constitution requires that the most senior federal officers must be confirmed by the Senate before assuming office, but while the Senate is in...
, with Fee starting immediately, but he was later confirmed by the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
on December 22, 1931, with him receiving his commission the following day. Beginning in 1948 through April 30, 1954, he served as the court’s chief judge, leaving that position when he left the court.
During his over twenty years on the district court he ruled on a variety of topics. In United States v. Earnest F. Cramer and E. R. Cramer, Fee ruled that Native Americans through treaties they signed in the 19th century had superior fishing rights over non-Native Americans at places such as Celilo Falls
Celilo Falls
Celilo Falls was a tribal fishing area on the Columbia River, just east of the Cascade Mountains, on what is today the border between the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington...
. In 1952, Fee decided two cases concerning the 1948 flood of Vanport, Oregon
Vanport, Oregon
Vanport City was a hastily constructed city of public housing located in Multnomah County, Oregon, United States, between the contemporary Portland city boundary and the Columbia River. It is currently the site of Delta Park and the Portland International Raceway.It was constructed in 1943 to house...
. He ruled that the government was not liable for the damage caused to the residents’ property.
Some other cases included a labor dispute involving Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward is an online retailer that carries the same name as the former American department store chain, founded as the world's #1 mail order business in 1872 by Aaron Montgomery Ward, and which went out of business in 2001...
, holding the Methodist Episcopal Church
Methodist Episcopal Church
The Methodist Episcopal Church, sometimes referred to as the M.E. Church, was a development of the first expression of Methodism in the United States. It officially began at the Baltimore Christmas Conference in 1784, with Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke as the first bishops. Through a series of...
legally obligated to pay bondholders on defaulted bonds they issued to build a hospital, and even refused to appoint a commissioner for Crater Lake National Park
Crater Lake National Park
Crater Lake National Park is a United States National Park located in southern Oregon. Established in 1902, Crater Lake National Park is the sixth oldest national park in the United States and the only one in the state of Oregon...
. He also ruled on the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, presided over a case in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, and signed off on the condemnation of the water company serving Salem, Oregon
Salem, Oregon
Salem is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river forms the boundary between Marion and Polk counties, and the city neighborhood...
, as that city took over the water supply.
On April 6, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
nominated Fee to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Alaska* District of Arizona...
. The Senate confirmed him on April 23, and he received his commission on April 30, replacing Clifton Mathews
Clifton Mathews
Clifton Mathews was a lawyer and a United States federal judge.Born in Concord, Georgia, Matthews read law to enter the bar in 1904; he was in private practice in Farmerville, Louisiana between 1904 and 1912...
on the court. Fee moved to San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
where the court’s main office is located, where he served until his death. In 1957, he wrote the opinion in Bartholomae Corp. v. United States, 253 F.2d 716 (9th Cir. 1957), that refused to hold the federal government liable for damages related to nuclear bomb testing in 1951.
Japanese internment
On June 12, 1942, as district court judge Fee began presiding over the trial of Minoru YasuiMinoru Yasui
Minoru "Min" Yasui was a Japanese American lawyer from Oregon. Born in Hood River, Oregon, he earned both an undergraduate degree and his law degree at the University of Oregon. He was one of the few Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor who fought laws that directly targeted...
, a native Oregonian of Japanese descent who was on trial for breaking curfew. The curfew had been imposed by the United States Army’s General John L. DeWitt
John L. DeWitt
John Lesesne DeWitt was a general in the United States Army, best known for his vocal support of the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II....
under the authority of President Franklin Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066
Executive Order 9066
United States Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942 authorizing the Secretary of War to prescribe certain areas as military zones...
that began the Japanese American internment
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The curfew only applied to those of Japanese heritage, with Yasui being the first person to be arrested for violating the curfew. This case would make it all the way to the United States Supreme Court. The decision to take this trial to the Supreme Court made national news.
Yasui was an attorney who was a U.S. Army reservist and, until the start of the war, worked for the Japanese consulate in Chicago, Illinois. The trial was held at the Federal Courthouse
Gus J. Solomon United States Courthouse
Gus J. Solomon United States Courthouse is federal courthouse located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Completed in 1933, it previously housed the United States District Court for the District of Oregon until the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse opened in 1997. The Renaissance...
in downtown Portland where Yasui had broken the curfew. Fee determined in his ruling for the case that the curfew could only apply to aliens, as martial law
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
had not been declared. However, he also ruled that because Yasui had worked for the Japanese government that he had forfeited his citizenship so that the curfew did apply to him. Fee sentenced Yasui to 1 year in jail, served at the Multnomah County Jail. Meanwhile, his case went on appeal until reaching the Supreme Court of the United States as Yasui v. United States
Yasui v. United States
Yasui v. United States, 320 U.S. 115 was a United States Supreme Court case regarding the constitutionality of curfews used during World War II when they were applied to citizens of the United States. The case arose out of the implementation of Executive Order 9066 by the U.S...
, (320 U.S. 115) with that court determining the opposite of Fee, that Yasui was a citizen, but the curfew did apply to citizens. After the Supreme Court returned the case to Fee for re-evaluation, he affirmed the conviction on the grounds the Supreme Court had determined.
Family and later life
Fee’s father was also a judge in Oregon. He was a partner in Fee & Slater. On December 22, 1943, James Fee married Alice Emma Tomkins. She was born in Cascade Locks, OregonCascade Locks, Oregon
Cascade Locks is a city in Hood River County, Oregon, United States. The city took its name from a set of locks built to improve navigation past the Cascades Rapids of the Columbia River. The U.S. federal government approved the plan for the locks in 1875, construction began in 1878, and the locks...
on September 11, 1897, and died on September 21, 1995. They did not have any children. James Alger Fee died on August 25, 1959.