James A. Redden

:"This article is about the U.S. District Judge in Oregon. A different Oregon resident named Jim Redden was the publisher of "PDXS" and is a reporter for the "Portland Tribune.Infobox_Politician
name = James A. Redden


width =
height =
caption =
birth_date = Birth date and age|1929|3|13|mf=y
birth_place = Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
residence = Beaverton, Oregon, U.S.
death_date =
death_place =
office = U.S. District Court Judge
term_start =1980
term_end = present¹
predecessor =
successor =
constituency =
office2 = 10th Oregon Attorney General
term_start2 = January 3, 1977
term_end2 = March 24, 1980
predecessor2 = Lee Johnson (R)
successor2 = James M. Brown (D)
constituency2 =
office3 = Oregon State Treasurer
term_start3 = January 1, 1973
term_end3 = January 3, 1977
predecessor3 = Robert W. Straub
successor3 = Clay Myers
constituency3 =
party = Democratic
religion =
occupation = Attorney
majority =
relations =
spouse = Joan Johnson Redden
civil partner =
children = James Redden, journalist
William Redden, attorney
website =
footnotes = ¹Senior Judge since

James Anthony "Jim" Redden Jr. (born 1929) is a Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Oregon.cite news | last = Rojas-Burke | first = Joe | title = James A. Redden: An amiable Judge, A hard line on salmon | work = The Oregonian | pages = A1 | date = July 11, 2005] Before appointment to the bench, he was a trial attorney, and a career Democratic politician, serving as a legislator and in two of the state's constitutional offices, Treasurercite web | title = Treasurers of Oregon | work = Oregon Blue Book | publisher = Oregon Secretary of State | date = 2006 | url = http://bluebook.state.or.us/state/elections/elections26.htm | format = HTML] and Attorney General.cite web | title = Attorneys General of Oregon | work = Oregon Blue Book | publisher = Oregon Secretary of State | date = 2006 | url = http://bluebook.state.or.us/state/elections/elections30.htm | format = HTML] As a politician, he was a key figure in some of Oregon's most groundbreaking legislative initiatives, including brokering the deal which brought passage of the state's 1967 public beach access law.cite news | last = Rojas-Burke | first = Joe | title = James A. Redden: An amiable Judge, A hard line on salmon | work = The Oregonian | pages = A1 | date = July 11, 2005] Many of the cases he has heard in his quarter of a century on the federal bench gained national attention, often sparking controversy, including his dismissal of the 1975 guns and ammunition charges against American Indian Movement leader Dennis Banks,cite news | title = Dismissal of charge against Indian leader upheld | work = New York Times | pages = A28 | publisher = (UPI) | date = September 2, 1984] and his more recent 2005 and 2006 decisions halting the Bush administration's plans to reduce spillway flows on the Columbia and Snake rivers, flows which environmentalists and indigenous tribes have criticized as devastating to the salmon runs.cite news | last = Milstein | first = Michael | title = U.S. offers new fish tactics for Columbia basin | work = The Oregonian | pages = B1 | date = November 25, 2005] cite news | last = Harden| first = Blaine | title = Bush Policy Irks Judges in West; Rulings Criticize Agencies for Not Protecting the Environment | work = Washington Post | pages = A1 | date = November 25, 2005] cite news | last = Barnard | first = Jeff | title = Judge: "Follow the Law, Save the Salmon" | work = The Columbian | pages = A1 | publisher: (UPI) Vancouver, WA: Columbian Publishing Co. | date = February 19, 2006] The federal courthouse in Medford, Oregon, where he practiced law for 17 years,cite news | last = Rojas-Burke | first = Joe | title = James A. Redden: An amiable Judge, A hard line on salmon | work = The Oregonian | pages = A1 | date = July 11, 2005] was renamed by an Act of Congress in his honor.First introduced as [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c104:S.+1875: S.1875] and enacted as amendment to USPL|104|208] He and his wife, Joan, make their home in Beaverton, Oregon and have two adult sons: James, a journalist, and William, a public defender.

Early life

During the difficult days of the Great Depression, Jim Redden was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, the third child of James A. Redden, Sr., a dentist, and his wife, Alma. He spent his early childhood in their home on Bronson Terrace at the Eastern edge of Forest Park, where for a time, his father also maintained his dental officeUnited States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626, Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts; Roll 911; p. 5A; E.D. 83; Image 191.0.]

During what he would later describe as a "mediocre" high school career,cite news | last = Painter, Jr. | first = John | title = 3 judges take overdue break to note decade together on federal bench | work = The Oregonian | pages = B4| date = April 7, 1990] Redden enlisted in the Army in 1946,"James Anthony Redden." "Marquis Who's Who^TM". Marquis Who's Who, 2006. Reproduced in "Biography Resource Center". Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2006. [http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC] Retrieved: 2006-12-07] as World War II was coming to an end, serving two years as a PFC in occupied Japan.cite news | last = Rojas-Burke | first = Joe | title = James A. Redden: An amiable Judge, A hard line on salmon | work = The Oregonian | pages = A1 | date = July 11, 2005] He was assigned as a hospital medic, and witnessed the aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima firsthand.cite news | last = Rojas-Burke | first = Joe | title = James A. Redden: An amiable Judge, A hard line on salmon | work = The Oregonian | pages = A1 | date = July 11, 2005]

After discharge from the service, he married his high school sweetheart, Joan Johnson, in 1951,cite news | last = Rojas-Burke | first = Joe | title = James A. Redden: An amiable Judge, A hard line on salmon | work = The Oregonian | pages = A1 | date = July 11, 2005] and he took several low-end jobs, including working coding survey sheets for the Gillette Razor Company,cite news | last = Painter, Jr. | first = John | title = 3 judges take overdue break to note decade together on federal bench | work = The Oregonian | pages = B4| date = April 7, 1990] but managed not only to earn a belated high school diploma, but went on to Boston College and its School of Law, graduating with an LL.B. in 1954, and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar the same year.cite news | last = Rojas-Burke | first = Joe | title = James A. Redden: An amiable Judge, A hard line on salmon | work = The Oregonian | pages = A1 | date = July 11, 2005]

After engaging in the private practice of law in Massachusetts for only a year, the young attorney moved with his wife and young sons to Portland, Oregon in 1955 to take the Oregon State Bar exam and a position with a title insurance company. His work as a title examiner lasted only one year, followed by an equally brief tenure as a claims adjuster for Allstate Insurance Company."James Anthony Redden." "Marquis Who's Who^TM". Marquis Who's Who, 2006. Reproduced in "Biography Resource Center". Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2006. [http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC] Retrieved: 2006-12-07] Neither position satisfied what he would later describe as a growing passion for the law, and particularly as it plays out in the courtroom.cite news | last = Rojas-Burke | first = Joe | title = James A. Redden: An amiable Judge, A hard line on salmon | work = The Oregonian | pages = A1 | date = July 11, 2005]

Redden and his family would make their home for the next seventeen years in Medford, Oregon, where he built a successful law practice. He became deeply immersed in politics, quickly becoming regarded as one of the Democratic Party's "rising stars."cite news | last = Rojas-Burke | first = Joe | title = James A. Redden: An amiable Judge, A hard line on salmon | work = The Oregonian | pages = A1 | date = July 11, 2005]

Legislative career

It was as a favor to a friend seeking a challenger to the incumbent Republican for the 19th District in the Oregon House of Representatives, that Redden entered his first political race in 1962.cite news | last = Barnard | first = Jeff | title = Judge: "Follow the Law, Save the Salmon" | work = The Columbian | pages = A1 | publisher: (UPI) Vancouver, WA: Columbian Publishing Co. | date = February 19, 2006] He won the race, and served for six years in the House, becoming the party Minority Leader in 1967. [cite news
title=Judges Helen Frye, Owen Panner and James Redden
first=Heather
last=Van Meter
url=http://usdchs.org/newsletters.php
work=Oregon Benchmarks
publisher=The U.S. District Court of Oregon Historical Society
date=fall 2005
format=PDF
accessdate=2007-06-06]

Judicial career

Since 2003, Redden has emerged as a central figure in the tension between industry and environmental concerns about the Hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River. He has rejected two management plans advanced by the federal government of the United States, on the grounds that they fail to protect various species of salmon, as required by the Endangered Species Act, and has suggested that if the Bush administration fails to adequately address the salmon issue, management of the dams could fall to the courts. [cite news
title=Judge rips latest plan to help salmon
date=December 112007
first=Michael
last=Milstein
work=The Oregonian]

References