Adolphus Frederic St. Sure (March 9, 1869 – February 5, 1949) was a United States district judge of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of California The United States District Court for the Northern District of California (in case citations, N.D. Cal.) is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, Del ...

Education and career

Born on March 9, 1869, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, St. Sure

read law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...

in 1895. Under the tutelage of prominent Bay Area Republican politician

Joseph R. Knowland Joseph Russell Knowland (August 5, 1873 – February 1, 1966) was an American politician and newspaper publisher. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from California and was owner, editor and publisher of the ''O ...

, he eventually joined the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

. St. Sure entered private practice in Alameda County, California from 1895 to 1923. One of his law partners during this time was J. Leonard Rose. St. Sure was city recorder for Alameda, California from 1893 to 1899. He was city attorney for Alameda from 1915 to 1917. He was a Judge for the

Alameda County Superior Court The Alameda County Superior Court, officially the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda, is the California superior court with jurisdiction over Alameda County as established by Article VI of the Constitution of California. It functions ...

from 1917 to 1922. He was an associate justice of the California Court of Appeal for the First District from 1923 to 1925.

Federal judicial service

St. Sure was nominated by President

Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...

on February 16, 1925, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Maurice Timothy Dooling. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 23, 1925, and received his commission the same day. He assumed senior status on June 30, 1947. His service terminated on February 5, 1949, due to his death.

Judicial philosophy and notable cases

St. Sure insisted during his early days on the bench that women be permitted to sit on federal juries, explaining he "had two years' experience with women jurors when I was on the superior court bench in Alameda County and found them conscientious, independent, highly intelligent, and willing to serve". In 1939, lettuce workers in Salinas, California, were

blacklisted Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, t ...

by employers for their union activities. Attorneys provided by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) brought action and St. Sure, in the first instance of its kind, issued an injunction holding blacklisting to be illegal. St. Sure was the federal judge who signed the order giving the United States Navy title to Treasure Island, California, after it formally served notice of its unilateral declaration taking ownership on April 17, 1942. On September 8, 1942, the case of

Fred Korematsu was an American civil rights activist who resisted the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Shortly after the Imperial Japanese Navy launched its attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Or ...

, a United States citizen of Japanese ancestry who had evaded authorities to avoid

internment Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

, was heard before St. Sure in San Francisco. Korematsu's conviction was eventually appealed to the United States Supreme Court and on December 18, 1944, the Court issued its landmark ''

Korematsu v. United States ''Korematsu v. United States'', 323 U.S. 214 (1944), was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States to uphold the exclusion of Japanese Americans from the West Coast Military Area during World War II. The decision has been wid ...

'' decision.

Personal life and death

St. Sure married Ida Laura Pettes in Alameda in 1897. He died February 5, 1949, and is buried at Mountain View Cemetery in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

, California.

References

External links

Guide to the St. Sure Family Papers
at

The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:St. Sure, Adolphus Frederic 1869 births 1949 deaths California Republicans Judges of the California Courts of Appeal Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California United States district court judges appointed by Calvin Coolidge 20th-century American judges People from Alameda, California People from Sheboygan, Wisconsin Burials at Mountain View Cemetery (Oakland, California)