Ninth Circuit Courthouse Celebrated – October, 2014
The oldest active federal courthouse west of the Mississippi, Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse, was celebrated in a special program in October, 2014. Professor
James Mooney of the University of Oregon School of Law recounted the life and career of Oregon’s first district judge, Matthew Deady to over 100 guests
in the building’s courtroom.
The NJCHS engaged CWF Media to videotape the October 23rd program in its entirety for ultimate distribution to the Ninth Circuit and interested high schools.
To obtain a copy of the videotape, please contact: NJCHS.ExecutiveDirector@gmail.com or call
(415) 757-0286. Attendees were given copies of the special issue of Western Legal History devoted to the history of the courthouse. This special issue
features an article on Matthew Deady, an oral history of Judge John Kilkenny, who led preservation efforts in the 1970s, an article by Circuit Judge
Diarmuid O’Scannlain, and a historical photo essay.
In June 2013, in Los Angeles, the NJCHS and the California Supreme Court Historical Society co-sponsored a multimedia program exploring state’s rights
and federalism as illustrated by notorious events in the life of California Supreme Court Chief Justice David Terry (1855-59).
The program was held in the Ronald Reagan State Office Building in Los Angeles, Over 150 attendees enjoyed the program, which featured judges from the
U.S. District Court and the California Court of Appeal reading original documents about Terry’s duel with a U.S. senator, his 1856 clash with the San
Francisco Vigilance Committee, and his 1889 assault on U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Field.
The struggle to bring a federal courthouse to Orange County is the subject of a video project the NJCHS developed with the aid of District Judge Dave Carter.
Filmed at the Santa Ana Courthouse, through interviews with Judges Manuel Real, Terry Hatter, Dickran Tevrizian, Gary Taylor, Andrew Guilford, Bankruptcy
Judge John Ryan, Magistrate Judge Arthur Nakazato, and former Congressmen Jerry Patterson and Christopher Cox, this stunning video documents the successful
efforts which led to the construction of the Santa Ana Courthouse.
The video was premiered at the Orange County Federal Bar Association meeting and was enthusiastically received.
