Ruggero John Aldisert (November 10, 1919 – December 28, 2014) was a

United States circuit judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts: * District of Delaware * District of New Jersey * East ...

Early life and education

Born November 10, 1919, in Carnegie,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, to Italian emigrant parents, Aldisert attended the local public schools. He graduated from Carnegie High School in 1937, then earned a

Bachelor of Arts 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 year ...

degree in 1941 from the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

. However,

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 opposing ...

interrupted his legal studies. He volunteered and joined the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

, serving as battery commander in the Pacific Theater (1942 to 1946) and attaining the rank of Major. He then finished his legal studies using the GI Bill, and received his Juris Doctor in 1947 from the

University of Pittsburgh School of Law The University of Pittsburgh School of Law (Pitt Law) was founded in 1895. It became a charter member of the Association of American Law Schools in 1900. Its primary home facility is the Barco Law Building. The school offers four degrees: Master ...

. He married and raised a family, and also became active in the Italian Sons and Daughters of America, becoming the national president from 1954 to 1968.

Early career

Aldisert had a private legal practice in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

, Pennsylvania from 1947 to 1961, handling trials in civil and criminal matters. He re-entered government service by becoming a Judge of the

Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas In Pennsylvania, the courts of common pleas are the trial courts of the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania (the state court system). The courts of common pleas are the trial courts of general jurisdiction in the state. The name derives fro ...

of Allegheny County (from 1961 to 1968). From 1963 until his semi-retirement from the federal bench in 1986, Aldisert also taught law as an adjunct professor at his alma mater.

Federal judicial service

President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

nominated Aldisert to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Austin Leander Staley. The

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

confirmed him on July 29, 1968, and Judge Aldisert received his commission that same day. In addition to his Third Circuit duties, Judge Aldisert served on the board of the Federal Judicial Center from 1972 to 1979. He served as Chief Judge of the Third Circuit, and as a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 1984 to 1986. Judge Aldisert assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

on December 31, 1986, but remained active for nearly two more decades. His book on Opinion Writing was distributed to American judges at judicial conferences, and reached a second edition. In addition to sitting on many appellate panels after taking senior status, Judge Aldisert also traveled to England, Germany, Italy, the former Czechoslovakia, and to Poland in 1980 (when that nation began to rebel against communist rule) to lecture on American legal principles.

Death and legacy

Judge Aldisert stopped hearing cases in August 2014 after 46 years on the bench. He died following a heart attack on December 28, 2014, in Santa Barbara,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, and was survived by his widow, children and grandchildren. He is buried at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

Writings

Aldisert wrote a

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

and several books on

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

and law practice, including ''The Judicial Process'' (West 2nd. ed. 1996), ''Logic for Lawyers: A Guide to Clear Legal Thinking'' (NITA 3rd ed. 1997), ''Winning on Appeal'' (NITA 2nd ed. 2003), ''Opinion Writing'' (West 2nd. ed. 2009) and ''A Judge's Advice: 50 Years on the Bench'' (CAP Press 2011). He also published a novel, ''Almost the Truth'' (about the OSS and buried treasure).

Notable cases

Judge Aldisert dissented in an

ABSCAM Abscam (sometimes written ABSCAM) was an FBI sting operation in the late 1970s and early 1980s that led to the convictions of seven members of the United States Congress, among others, for bribery and corruption. The two-year investigation init ...

sting case, in which a Philadelphia jury had convicted city councilmen of corruption, claiming that the FBI tactics resembled those in totalitarian Nazi Germany or Italy. Aldisert wrote a dissenting opinion in FAIR v. Rumsfeld, a high-profile case challenging the Solomon Amendment, a federal law denying federal funding to colleges and universities which prohibited on-campus recruiting by the military. The majority opinion enjoined enforcement of the law on First Amendment grounds (campuses had barred military recruiters based on the military's then "don't ask, don't tell" policy concerning sexual orientation). The United States Supreme Court ultimately vindicated Judge Aldisert's dissenting view which found the measures constitutional; Chief Justice

John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as the 17th chief justice of the United States since 2005. Roberts has authored the majority opinion in several landmark cases, including '' Nat ...

wrote the unanimous opinion in Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic & Institutional Rights, Inc.547 U.S. 47 (2006)

Honors

In 2005 Judge Aldisert became the first recipient of the "Distinguished Appellate Jurist Award", bestowed by the

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 aca ...

's Council of Appellate Lawyers. In 2008 Aldisert received the Legal Writing Institute's "Golden Pen Award."

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aldisert, Ruggero John 1919 births 2014 deaths Pennsylvania lawyers United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Judges of the Pennsylvania Courts of Common Pleas United States court of appeals judges appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson 20th-century American judges People from Carnegie, Pennsylvania Writers from Pennsylvania Military personnel from Pennsylvania University of Pittsburgh School of Law alumni American people of Italian descent United States Marine Corps officers