Frank Ernest Schwelb (June 24, 1932August 13, 2014) was a judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and the

District of Columbia Court of Appeals The District of Columbia Court of Appeals is the highest court of the District of Columbia, in the United States. Established in 1970, it is equivalent to a state supreme court, except that its authority is derived from the United States Congr ...

. Schwelb was born in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, where his father Egon Schwelb was a Jewish human rights lawyer. After the

German occupation of Czechoslovakia German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, Egon Schwelb was arrested by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

and held for two months. Upon his release, he fled with his family to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, where he was part of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile. The family moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1947 when Egon became deputy director of the human rights division of the new

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. Frank was fifteen years old. He graduated from

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

in 1953 and

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1958, serving in the

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from 1955 to 1957. After law school Schwelb worked at the New York law firm Mudge, Stern, Baldwin & Todd and then, beginning in 1962, at the

United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is the institution within the federal government responsible for enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion Religion is usually d ...

. In 1979, Schwelb was nominated and confirmed to be a trial judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was elevated to the

in 1988. He took senior status in 2006 and died in 2014. Schwelb was noted for his distinctive writing style as a judge. The Washington Post once referred to him as "judge laureate of the D.C. Superior Court." He enjoyed flowery turns of phrase and was known to quote

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

in his opinions. In 1980, he was the victim of a robbery and was shot when he refused to turn over his wallet. In his first opinion back on the bench after a two-month recovery, he wrote about the incident and his assailants, who "unsuccessfully attempted a redistribution of the wealth by demanding the Court’s wallet" and "left a lead bullet in the Court’s abdomen."

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwelb, Frank E. 1932 births 2014 deaths 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges Czech refugees Harvard Law School alumni Judges of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Judges of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia People who emigrated to escape Nazism Czechoslovak emigrants to the United States Yale College alumni