Clerking for “God’s Grandfather”: Chauncey Belknap’s Year with Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr

Abstract

Clerking for “God’s Grandfather”: Chauncey Belknap’s Year with Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr TODD C. PEPPERS IRA BRAD MATETSKY ELIZABETH R. WILLIAMS JESSICA WINN Introduction In the last twenty years, historians have discovered the Supreme Court law clerk. Although the first clerks were hired by the Justices in the 1880s, for much of their existence the clerks toiled in relative anonym­ ity. Law clerks emerged from the shadows, however, when Court scholars began to appreciate the value of studying them, not only because clerks were eye-witnesses to the internal workings of the Supreme Court, but also because the clerks had substantive job duties and arguably wielded influence over the decision-making process. Most of what we know about law clerks comes from the clerks themselves, usually in the form oflaw review articles memorializing their Justices and their clerkships or in interviews with reporters and legal scholars. In a few instances, however, law clerks have contemporaneously memorialized their ex­ periences in diaries. These materials provide a rare window into the insular world of the Court. While the recollections contained in the diaries are often infused with youthful hero worship for their employer—in contra­ distinction to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.’s claim that no man is a hero to his valet— they offer a real-time, unfiltered peek at the personalities who populated the bench and the issues with which the Court was grap­ pling. Just such a snapshot in time is provided by the diary of Chauncey Belknap, a remarkable Harvard Law School graduate who clerked for Justice Holmes during October Term 1915. Through Belknap’s near-daily records of his clerkship, as well as his encounters with the glittering social set of pre-war Washington, we are permitted a 258 JOURNAL OF SUPREME COURT HISTORY singular and fascinating glimpse into the colorful experience of working for one of the Court’s most famous jurists. A copy of the diary was obtained from Belknap’s long-time law firm, Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler. While portions of the diary have appeared in other books and articles, the diary has neverbeen reproduced in its entirety.1 This is due, in part, to the fact that the diary is written in a combination ofcursive that varies in its readability and Pitman shorthand. Over a two-year period, two of the co-authors (Williams and Winn) carefully transcribed the diary. Once the transcription was complete, a Pitman shorthand expert was retained to translate the shorthand into English. Finally, all four authors had to agree upon words that were challenging to discern because of Belknap’s handwriting. If agree­ ment could not be reached, then the word was listed as “unintelligible” in the final text. As they transcribed the text, Williams and Winn researched and annotated Belknap’s references to people, places, and events. The text was subsequently edited to make format­ ting and style more consistent. For purposes of publication, an abridged version ofthe diary is presented here. The selected entries and portions of entries reflect the tone of the diary as a whole and highlight the significant events and conversations Belknap recorded. Brief identifications of persons mentioned and explanations of unfamiliar terms, as well as citations, are provided in the endnotes. Before one turns to the diary, some background on its author is necessary. Belknap was bom on January 26, 1891, in Roselle Park, New Jersey, to Chauncey and Emma McClave Belknap. The early years of his life were filled with hardship and loss. His father was a sales executive with the Thomson Houston Electric Company. When Belknap was two years old, his father died of yellow fever during a business trip to South America. Belknap’s mother died two years later of appendicitis. Thus, Belknap was effectively orphaned by the age of four. Relatives raised Belknap and his young sister, Fredericka.2 The young children went to live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with maternal aunt Mary McClave, who was a school teacher. Living quarters were tight, and Belknap slept on the living-room couch. Many weekends were spent farther down­ town with his paternal aunts, Cornelia and Elizabeth Belknap, or with his uncle, Fred­ erick H...