Justice and Legal Change on the Shores of Lake Erie: A History of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio edited by Paul Finkelman and Roberta Sue Alexander (review)

In Justice and Legal Change on the Shores of Lake Erie: A History of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, editors Paul Finkelman and Roberta Sue Alexander provide readers with a historical perspective of one trial court, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, which shows how lawyers and judges are protectors of law and order. Publication was supported by the court and funded from the court’s Attorney Admissions Fund (fees paid by attorneys for use in the administration of justice). The book, subtitled A History of the Court, is not a history of the court or its judges per se, but, as Finkelman explains, “a series of cases and topics which illustrate the nature of the court and the wide-ranging work that it does” (1). This compilation contains something for everyone—murder, violence, labor unrest, free speech, socialism, gender issues, and race and sex discrimination. Chief Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. explains that every case that comes before this court is important. The court’s success “is determined by whether we [the judges of the court] fairly and consistently render justice to the litigants who come before us” (x).

The book is divided into two sections—the “Beginnings” and “The Modern Court.” The U.S. District Court for the District of Ohio was originally located in Chillicothe and moved to Columbus. As Ohio grew, both Cincinnati and Cleveland became resentful of Columbus’s judicial dominance. The Plain Dealer complained that Cleveland was unlikely to obtain a federal court since northern Ohio was represented by abolitionists and openly opposed to the Fugitive Slave Act. Proving the Plain Dealer wrong, President Franklin Pierce signed the law creating this court on February 10, 1855.

After explaining the creation of the court, the book continues with a trial involving the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and the first judge of this court, Hiram Willson. During trial, efforts were made to stack the jury with supporters of the act. Willson “undermined the credibility of federal court in northern Ohio” (68). Another early trial was the prosecution of Eugene V. Debs, who, while speaking in Canton, was accused of inciting his audience to break the law by evading the draft. Other proceedings occur against the backdrop of the growing labor movement. The judges of this court, Republican and Democrat, were mired in nineteenth-century conceptions of economics and refused to acknowledge change, unlike many other courts. The judges adopted the principle of a contemporary—“The risk of judicial abuse is an acceptable price to pay to control the legislative abuses that all too often do occur” (93).

In the introduction to the second part, Judge Dan Aaron Polster explains changes in the types of cases during the modern period. Half involve drugs and guns. The court’s business became complicated by sentencing guidelines, mandatory sentences, Ohio’s death penalty, and claims of sex, race, age, and disability discrimination. This period saw the appointment of the district’s first African American judge (George White) and first female judge (Ann Aldrich).

Modern trials covered include the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People’s action to bring Cleveland to compliance with the decision in Brown v. Board of Education and cases concerning widespread housing discrimination as a result of African American migration to the North. In this era, two judges stand out—Frank J. Battisti and Ann Aldrich. Judge Battisti waged a controversial effort to deal with Brown and school segregation. Battisti said that his court was more than the Constitution living through the vigilance and courage of the people. It was “a place where we reason together.” (150...