Paul Cashman Reardon (December 23, 1909 – July 29, 1988) was a justice of the

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the court of last resort, highest court in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the di ...

from 1962 to 1972. He was appointed by Governor

John Volpe John Anthony Volpe (; December 8, 1908November 11, 1994) was an American businessman, diplomat, and politician from Massachusetts. A son of Italian immigrants, he founded and owned a large construction firm. Politically, he was a Republican in i ...

.Joan Cook,
Paul C. Reardon, 78; Led Study Urging Curbs on Trial Publicity
, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' (August 2, 1988), p. A-17.

Early life, education, career, and military service

Born in

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Greater Boston, Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 1 ...

to Dr. Daniel B. Reardon and Mary Cashman Reardon, Reardon attended Quincy High School where he was "the premier debater on the Quincy team". Reardon spent a year at

Phillips Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = Ma ...

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...

, before entering

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

, from which he received a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

, cum laude, in 1932. He received his J.D. from

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 1935, and entered the practice of law with a Massachusetts firm that year. In 1939, Reardon started his own practice and married Ann Leich. Reardon joined the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, achieving the rank of Lieutenant. Following the war he again practiced with a firm until 1953, when he was appointed as Counsel to Governor

Christian Herter Christian Archibald Herter (March 28, 1895December 30, 1966) was an American diplomat and Republican politician who was the 59th Governor of Massachusetts from 1953 to 1957 and United States Secretary of State from 1959 to 1961. His moderate t ...

Judicial service

In 1955, Herter appointed Reardon Chief Justice of the

Massachusetts Superior Court The Massachusetts Superior Court (also known as the Superior Court Department of the Trial Court) is a trial court department in Massachusetts. The Superior Court has original jurisdiction in civil actions over $50,000, and in matters where equita ...

, and in 1957 Reardon was instrumental in establishing the National Conference of State Trial Judges, which facilitated communication between judges of different states on strategies for handling the common problem of congested dockets and backlogged cases. During this time, Reardon was elected to serve as President of the Harvard Alumni Association for the 1959-1960 term. In 1962, Governor John A. Volpe appointed Reardon to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, where Reardon sat for 15 years until his retirement in 1976. In 1964, at the invitation of

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...

President Lewis Powell, Reardon chaired a ten-member national committee to examine the relationship between the free press and

fair trials Fair Trials is a UK-registered non-governmental organization which works for fair trials according to international standards of justice and the right to a fair trial, identifying where criminal justice is failing, alerting the world to the prob ...

and establish "guidelines for regulating news coverage of criminal trials". In 1966, the committee issued a lengthy report finding many issues arising from the conduct of law enforcement officers and attorneys, and recommending "rules for lawyers, courts and law enforcement officials to follow in preventing news stories from prejudicing juries in criminal cases". The report was condemned by news organizations, but endorsed by the American Bar Association and enacted to some degree into the legal codes of ethics of all fifty states. During his time on the court, Reardon he wrote over 600 opinions, including a 1969 opinion postponing an inquest into the death of

Mary Jo Kopechne Mary Jo Kopechne (; July 26, 1940 – July 18 or 19, 1969) was an American secretary, and one of the campaign workers for U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign, a close team known as the "Boiler Room Girls". In 1969, she d ...

, and a 1973 opinion in the case of ''School Committee of Boston v. Board of Education'', holding that despite imperfections in a plan to achieve

racial desegregation Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...

of Boston's schools, the board carrying out this effort had acted within its authority to impose various rules towards this effort.

Personal life and death

Reardon and his wife, Ann, were married for 49 years, until his death. They had two sons and two daughters. Reardon died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...

at the age of 78, and was interred at

Mount Wollaston Cemetery Mount Wollaston Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery at 20 Sea Street in the Merrymount neighborhood of Quincy, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1855 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. History In 1854 when Hancock ...

in Quincy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reardon, Paul 1909 births 1988 deaths People from Quincy, Massachusetts Phillips Academy alumni Harvard College alumni Harvard Law School alumni Justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court