Harrie B. Chase

Harrie B. Chase
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
In office
1929–1954
Appointed by Calvin Coolidge
Preceded by New position
Succeeded by Sterry R. Waterman
Associate Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court
In office
1927–1929
Preceded by Frank L. Fish
Succeeded by Julius A. Willcox
Personal details
Born (1889-08-09)August 9, 1889
Whitingham, Vermont
Died November 17, 1969(1969-11-17) (aged 80)
Vernon, Vermont
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Mina A. Gilman (m. 1912)
Alma mater Dartmouth College
Boston University School of Law
Profession Lawyer
Judge

Harrie Brigham Chase (August 9, 1889 – November 17, 1969) was an American lawyer and judge. He served briefly on the Supreme Court of Vermont, and then was a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit for forty years, twenty-six of them in active service.[1]

Early life and start of career

Chase was born in Whitingham, Vermont on August 9, 1889.[1] He attended Whitingham public schools, Wilmington High School, and Phillips Exeter Academy.[2] He attended Dartmouth College, receiving an A.B. in 1909, and the Boston University School of Law, receiving an LL.B. in 1912.[1][2] Admitted to the Vermont bar in 1912, he formed a partnership with his father in October of that year and continued to practice law until 1919[1][2] From February 1, 1919 to June 1919, he served as state's attorney of Windham County, Vermont.[1][2]

State court judge

Governor Percival W. Clement appointed him a superior court judge on May 16, 1919; at age 29, Chase was one of the youngest individuals in the state to become a judge.[2] He served as a superior court judge until 1927, and was chief judge from 1926 to 1927.[1] In 1927, he succeeded Frank L. Fish as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Vermont,[3] and he served until 1929.[1]

Federal judge

In 1929, the United States Congress created a new judgeship on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals (45 Stat. 1081).[1] President Calvin Coolidge (a native Vermonter) decided to appoint a judge from Vermont to the court and selected the little-known Chase on January 19, 1929.[1][4] He was succeeded on the Vermont Supreme Court by Julius A. Willcox.[5] Chase's appointment disappointed Learned Hand and other advocates for the promotion of Thomas D. Thacher from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York; Thacher went on to serve as Solicitor General of the United States.[4]

Chase was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 31, 1929, and received his commission the same day. He served as chief judge from 1953-1954. Chase did most of his work in Brattleboro, Vermont, where he lived, and commuted to New York only when necessary, which meant that he never became part of the core of the court.[4] Gerald Gunther, a Learned Hand biographer, described Chase as a modest man who "never claimed to be an intellectual or a penetrating student of the law... preferring his outings on the golf course to his struggles with arguments and judicial opinions," and yet had "integrity and competence" and was not a "political judge preoccupied with cronyism" as colleague Martin Thomas Manton was. (Manton resigned in the midst of corruption allegations in 1939 and served time in prison for accepting bribes.)[4] Chase was considered a conservative member of the Second Circuit bench and is remembered today primarily in connection with his colleagues, including Hand.[6]

Among Chase's law clerks was James L. Oakes, who later himself became a Second Circuit judge.[7]

Retirement and death

Chase assumed senior status on September 1, 1954[1] and heard very few cases after the mid-1950s. He was succeeded by Sterry R. Waterman, also of Vermont.[8]

Chase died in Vernon, Vermont on November 17, 1969.[1] He was buried at Morningside Cemetery in Brattleboro.[9]

Family

Chase, a Republican, was a Universalist in religion.[2] He was the son of attorney Charles Sumner Chase and Carrie (Brigham) Chase, and his siblings included Paul A. Chase, who served as an associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court.[10]

He married Mina A. Gilman of Brattleboro in 1912, and they had three children; Madeline H. (b. May 23, 1913), Alice N. (b. September 26, 1916), and Dana C. (b. November 20, 1918).[2][11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Harrie Brigham Chase at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Walter J. Bigelow, Vermont, Its Government, 1919-1920, Historical Publishing Company, 1919, p. 16.
  3. ↑ "Chase Named To Supreme Bench". Burlington Free Press. Burlington, VT. September 19, 1927. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com. (Subscription required (help)).
  4. 1 2 3 4 Gerald Gunther, Learned Hand: The Man and the Judge, pp. 243-45.
  5. ↑ Bigelow, Walter J. (1919). Vermont, Its Government. Montpelier, VT: Historical Publishing Company. p. 138.
  6. ↑ Review of Learned Hand's Court (Martin Schick), ABA Journal, December 1971, p. 1226.
  7. ↑ David M. Dorsen, Henry Friendly, Greatest Judge of His Era, Harvard University Press, 2012, p. 116.
  8. ↑ Sheldon Goldman, Picking Federal Judges: Lower Court Selection from Roosevelt Through Reagan, Yale University Press, 1999, p. 136.
  9. ↑ Covey, Mary F. (Vernon, VT Town Clerk) (November 19, 1969). "Vermont Death Records, 1909-2008, entry for Harrie Brigham Chase". Ancestry.com. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, LLC. Retrieved December 12, 2017. (Subscription required (help)).
  10. ↑ "Corporal Chase Receives Discharge". Brattleboro Daily Reformer. Brattleboro, VT. April 11, 1919. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com. (Subscription required (help)).
  11. ↑ Stone, Arthur F. (1929). The Vermont of Today. III. New York, NY: Lewis Historical Publishing Company. pp. 19–20.
Legal offices
Preceded by
Frank L. Fish		 Associate Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court
1927-1929		 Succeeded by
Julius A. Willcox
Preceded by
new seat		 Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
1929-1954		 Succeeded by
Sterry R. Waterman
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