Joseph Arthur Padway (July 25, 1891 – October 9, 1947) was an American labor lawyer and politician. Padway, who was born in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, England, went to

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

in 1905. Admitted to the

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

bar in 1912, he was appointed legal counsel for the

Wisconsin State Federation of Labor The Wisconsin State Federation of Labor (WSFL), affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, was the largest federation of labor unions in Wisconsin, from its formation in 1893 at the behest of the Milwaukee Federated Trades Council to its 195 ...

three years later. He married Lydia Paetow on March 9, 1912. He was elected to the

Wisconsin State Senate The Wisconsin Senate is the upper house of the Wisconsin State Legislature. Together with the larger Wisconsin State Assembly they constitute the legislative branch of the state of Wisconsin. The powers of the Wisconsin Senate are modeled after t ...

on the

Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...

ticket and served in the 1925 session of the

Wisconsin State Legislature The Wisconsin Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Legislature is a bicameral body composed of the upper house, Wisconsin State Senate, and the lower Wisconsin State Assembly, both of which have had Republican ...

. Padway was twice appointed to the Milwaukee civil court bench (1924, 1926). After 1927 he was associated with the Progressive Republicans in Wisconsin. Padway played a major role in shaping Wisconsin labor legislation between 1915 and 1935. Upon his appointment as the first general counsel of the American Federation of Labor, he moved to

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

where he served until his death. In this capacity, he successfully defended the constitutionality of the

National Labor Relations Act The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, is a foundational statute of United States labor law that guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and ...

(Wagner Act) before the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. He died in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

References

External links

The Papers of Joseph Arthur Padway, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
1891 births 1947 deaths American trade union leaders People from Leeds Politicians from Milwaukee Socialist Party of America politicians from Wisconsin Wisconsin Progressives (1924) 20th-century American politicians Wisconsin state court judges Wisconsin state senators British emigrants to the United States American labor lawyers 20th-century American judges Wisconsin State Federation of Labor people {{Wisconsin-WISenate-stub