A Generous Judicial Parabolist: Curtis D. Wilbur

Abstract

We – we lawyers, at least – should know Curtis Dwight Wilbur (1867-1954) better than many of us do. He was an able, upstanding, and innovative lawyer and public servant. (He was also an imperfect human being in an imperfect world, and so he had warts. For now, though, we’re going to accentuate the positive.) He enjoyed an enviable legal career that included long service as a practitioner, a prosecutor, a state-court judge, a federal-court judge, a Cabinet secretary, and a storytelling philanthropist. This little essay touches on all of those pursuits, but it focuses on the last.

Keywords: Annapolis, bears, California, Chief Justice, Coolidge, diversion, Harlan Fiske Stone, Hoover, Indiana, Justice, Juvenile, Los Angeles, Mackay Radio, Navy, Ninth Circuit, NLRA, NLRB, Secretary, Supreme Court