Thomas A. Russell
Thomas A. Russell (June 17, 1858 – April 8, 1938) was an American attorney who was the first law clerk at the Supreme Court of the United States.
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Russell was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 17, 1858. His father, William Goodwin Russell, was a descendent of Mayflower passengers Myles Standish and John Alden.[1]
In 1882, Russell graduated from Harvard Law School,[2] and then became the first Supreme Court law clerk when he worked for Justice Horace Gray from 1882 to 1883.[3][4] After his clerkship, Russell returned to Boston and from 1883 to 1886 worked for his father's law firm of Russell & Putnam.[1] He then worked in private practice from 1896 to 1900.[1]
In 1893 and 1894, Russell was elected from Suffolk County district 11 to the Massachusetts House of Representatives as a Republican, where he served as chairman of the Committee on Elections.[5][6]
Russell died April 8, 1938, in Boston.[1]
References
- Peppers, Todd C.; Ward, Artemus (2012). In Chambers: Stories of Supreme Court Law Clerks and Their Justices. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press. ISBN 978-0813932651. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
- Quinquennial Catalogue of the Law School of Harvard University. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1895. p. 102. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
- Cushman, Clare (2011). Courtwatchers: Eyewitness Accounts in Supreme Court History. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 180. ISBN 978-1442212459. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
- Oldfather, Chad; Peppers, Todd C. (2014). "Introduction: Judicial Assistants or Junior Judges: The Hiring, Utilization, and Influence of Law Clerks". Marq. L. Rev. 98 (1): 1–12. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
- Russell, Charles Theodore (1902). Reports of Contested Election Cases in the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the Years 1886-1902: Together with the Opinions of the Supreme Judicial Court Relating to Such Elections. Wright & Potter Printing Company. p. 54. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
- Massachusetts. General Court. House of Representatives (1893). Journal of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Boston, MA: State Printers. p. 1150. Retrieved September 27, 2017.