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.

Thomas Russell, c. 1894

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]

See also

References
  1. 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.
  2. Quinquennial Catalogue of the Law School of Harvard University. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1895. p. 102. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  3. Cushman, Clare (2011). Courtwatchers: Eyewitness Accounts in Supreme Court History. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 180. ISBN 978-1442212459. Retrieved September 27, 2017.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.


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