Robert H. Jackson's Oral Arguments before the New York Court of Appeals

Abstract:     
Robert H. Jackson was a New Yorker from boyhood until he went to Washington to join the New Deal in 1934. He also was a great courtroom advocate for the government, including as Solicitor General of the United States and, as an Associate Justice on leave from the Supreme Court, as chief United States prosecutor of the principal surviving Nazi leaders before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, Germany.

This essay describes a slice of Jackson's advocacy career that is much less well known: the cases that he argued as a private lawyer before the New York Court of Appeals between 1918 and 1931. Although Jackson's win-loss record as a young lawyer before that Court was 2-5, he displayed the impressive talent that later brought him such great renown.

Keywords: Robert H. Jackson, New York Court of Appeals, Benjamin N. Cardozo, Allegheny College, American Law Institute

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