William Denman (November 7, 1872 – March 9, 1959) 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 Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

Education and career

Born in

San Francisco 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 ...

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 ...

, Denman attended Lowell High School, received a

Bachelor of Letters Bachelor of Letters (BLitt or LittB; Latin ' or ') is a second undergraduate university degree in which students specialize in an area of study relevant to their own personal, professional, or academic development. This area of study may have been t ...

degree from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1894, and a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...

from Harvard Law School in 1897. He entered private practice in San Francisco in 1898, and was an assistant professor and lecturer at the

University of California, Hastings College of the Law The University of California, Hastings College of the Law (UC Hastings) is a public law school in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1878 by Serranus Clinton Hastings, UC Hastings was the first law school of the University of California as ...

from 1902 to 1906.

Federal judicial service

On January 10, 1935, Denman was nominated by President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

to a seat on the

vacated by Judge William Ball Gilbert. Denman was confirmed by 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 ...

on January 29, 1935, and received his commission on February 1, 1935. He served as Chief Judge and as a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 1948 to 1957, and 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 July 3, 1957. He continued to serve in that capacity until his death on March 9, 1959.

Notable case

Denman dissented in '' Korematsu v. United States'' (9th Cir. 1943). The 9th circuit permitted the government to force Japanese Americans into internment camps, and the Supreme Court affirmed the following year. Denman wrote: "If it be unusual for a judge of a court in which he is a participant to dissent from his associates on the matter of a certification, the occasion is even more unusual. Under the threat of penitentiary sentences to these 70,000 American citizens who have relied on the right they believe the Constitution gives them, we are driving from their homes to internment camps, not men alone, as with the deportation of the Dutch by the Germans, but their wives and children, without giving the latter the choice to remain in their homes. We are destroying their businesses, in effect, as if such citizens were enemy aliens. The destruction of their business connections means for many that they will not be able to return to their native areas; in effect, as were the French Canadians so taken to Louisiana."

References

Sources

*
Guide to the William Denman Papers
at The Bancroft Library * Jonathan van Harmelen. "William Denman: A Voice of Dissent on the Courts - Part 1." ''Discover Nikkei'', June 8, 2022. http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2022/6/8/william-denman-1/ * Jonathan van Harmelen. "William Denman: A Voice of Dissent on the Courts - Part 2." ''Discover Nikkei'', June 9, 2022. http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2022/6/9/william-denman-2/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Denman, William 1872 births 1959 deaths University of California, Berkeley alumni Harvard Law School alumni University of California, Hastings faculty Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit United States court of appeals judges appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt 20th-century American judges