James Alger Fee

Infobox Judge
name = James Alger Fee


imagesize =
caption =
office = Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Oregon
termstart = March 18 1931
termend = April 30 1954
nominator = Herbert Hoover
appointer =
predecessor = Robert S. Bean
successor = William G. East
office2 = Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
constituency2 =
termstart2 = April 30 1954
termend2 = August 25 1959
nominator2 = Dwight D. Eisenhower
appointer2 =
predecessor2 = Clifton Mathews
successor2 = Montgomery Oliver Koelsch
birthdate = birth date|1888|9|24|mf=y
birthplace = Pendleton, Oregon
deathdate = death date and age|1959|8|25|1888|9|24|mf=y
deathplace =
party =
spouse = Alice Emma Tomkins

James Alger Fee (1888-1959) was an American jurist 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.

Early life

James Alger was born in Eastern Oregon in the city of Pendleton on September 24 1888. [http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=740 Judges of the United States: James Alger Fee.] Federal Judicial Center. Accessed November 15 2007.] 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. [Beta Theta Pi, Wm. Raimond Baird, and James Taylor Brown. 1905. "Catalogue of Beta Theta Pi". p. 919.] He then moved to New York City and earned a master’s degree at Columbia University.Fifield, James Clark. 1918. "The American Bar". Minneapolis, Minn: J.C. Fifield Co.] After this Fee went on to law school at Columbia’s law school, graduating in 1914 with a Bachelor of Laws degree.

Legal career

Fee returned to Oregon where he passed the bar 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. [Barber, Katrine. 2005. "Death of Celilo Falls". The Emil and Kathleen Sick lecture-book series in western history and biography. Seattle: Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest in association with University of Washington Press. p. 59.] In 1952, Fee decided two cases concerning the 1948 flood of Vanport, Oregon.Taylor, George H. and Raymond R. Hatton. " [http://www.ocs.orst.edu/page_links/publications/weather_book/weather%20events/floods.pdf The Oregon Weather Book: A State of Extremes.] " Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University Press. 1999.] He ruled that the government was not liable for the damage caused to the residents’ property. ["Clark v. United States", 109 F. Supp. 213 (1952); Clark v. United States, 13 F.R.D. 342 (1952).]

Some other cases included a labor dispute involving Montgomery Ward, [ [http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/KCL05370.html Montgomery Ward and Co. vs. Northern Pacific Terminal Co. of Oregon, et al. Files, 1940.] Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives: Cornell University Library. Retrieved on November 18 2007.] holding the Methodist Episcopal Church legally obligated to pay bondholders on defaulted bonds they issued to build a hospital, [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,755457,00.html Defaulting Methodists.] "Time", Monday, December 16 1935.] and even refused to appoint a commissioner for Crater Lake National Park. [ [http://www.nps.gov/archive/crla/adhi/adhi10b.htm Administration Of Crater Lake National Park: 1916-Present.] National Park Service. Retrieved on November 18 2007.] He also ruled on the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, presided over a case in Pennsylvania, [United States v. Johnson, 76 F. Supp. 538, 539 (D. Pa. 1947).] and signed off on the condemnation of the water company serving Salem, Oregon, as that city took over the water supply. [Mauldin, Frank. 2004. "Sweet Mountain Water the Story of Salem, Oregon's Struggle to Tap Mt. Jefferson Water and Protect the North Santiam River." Salem history series. Salem, Or: Oak Savanna Pub.]

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. [Young, James Van. 1979. [http://books.google.com/books?id=-Z2TMPd4hTsC&pg=PA151&lpg=PA151&dq=%22james+alger+fee%22&source=web&ots=n_FTq1vseY&sig=8Awl1I-Hrgcyl6yc65OatIoUcmk#PPA151,M1 Judges and science the case law on atomic energy.] "Energy in the American economy". New York: Arno Press.]

Japanese internment

On June 12 1942, as district court judge Fee began presiding over the trial of Minoru Yasui, a native Oregonian of Japanese decent who was on trial for breaking curfew.Irons, Peter H. 1983. "Justice at War". New York: Oxford University Press. p. 135-7.] 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 those of Japanese heritage, with Yasui was the first person arrested for violating the curfew in a case that would make its way to the United States Supreme Court. This decision made national news. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,766638,00.html Medal for Moving.] "Time", Monday, November 30 1942.]

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.Daniels, Roger. [http://www.law.duke.edu/shell/cite.pl?68+Law+&+Contemp.+Probs.+159+(spring+2005)+pdf The Japanese American Cases, 1942-2004: A Social History.] ] The trial was held at the Federal Courthouse in downtown Portland where Yasui had broken the curfew.Tateishi, John. 1984. "And Justice for all: An Oral History of the Japanese American Detention Camps". New York: Random House. p. 78-80] 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. ["United States v. Yasui", 48 F. Supp. 40, 44 (D. Or. 1942)] 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."United States v. Minoru Yasui", [http://bss.sfsu.edu/internment/yasui1943.html 51 F. Supp. 234, 235 (D. Or. 1943).] ] 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. [Garland, David. 2001. "Mass Imprisonment Social Causes and Consequences". London ; Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE.] He was a partner in Fee & Slater. [Elliott v. Wallowa County, 57 Or. 236, 109 P. 130 (1910).] On December 22 1943, James Fee married Alice Emma Tomkins. [ [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~dillowfamily/dillowfamily.txt Descendants of Abram Dillow.] Rootsweb.com. Retrieved on November 18 2007.] She was born in Cascade Locks, Oregon on September 11 1897, and died on September 21 1995.Alice Tompkins Fee. "The Oregonian", October 3 1995.] They would not have any children. James Alger Fee died on August 25 1959.

References