Interview with Bennett Boskey, March 18, 1981

Interview Summary

Bennett Boskey clerked for Justice Reed from 1940 to 1941. He describes the primary duties of Reed's clerks, which included writing briefs and reviewing and making recommendations on petitions of certiorari. Several in forma pauperis cases came before the court during Boskey's tenure, and the clerks prepared the memos for them as well. Boskey discusses Reed's writing style, political philosophy, and relationships with his clerks and Chief Justice Hughes. He cites the annual law clerks' dinner, hosted by Justice and Mrs. Reed, as an example of the kind of relationship Reed had with the clerks. The court cases mentioned in the interview include United States v. Appalachian Electric Power Co., Mitchell v. United States, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, and McNabb v. United States.

Interview Keyword

William O. Douglas American Law Institite Arthur Ballantine Calvin Coolidge Chief Justice Charles Hughes Chief Justice Harlan Stone Columbia Law Review Commerce Clause Dean Acheson Edwin McElwain Federal Waterpower Act George Mickum Harold Leventhal Harvard University Harvard Law Review John Ferguson John Maclay John O. Boyle John Sapienza Judge Augustus N. Hand Judge Learned Hand Judge Patterson Justice Hugo Black Justice James McReynolds Justice John Clarke Justice Louis Brandeis Justice Owen Roberts Justice William Brennan Kluger's Law Review Law schools Law clerks New Deal Phil Graham Professor Felix Frankfurter Reception Root Clark Stanley Reed State Department Thomas Clause University of Chicago Wagner Act White House William College Yale University

Interview LC Subject

Boskey, Bennett, 1916- Boskey, Bennett, 1916- --Interviews Judges--United States United States--Politics and government United States. Supreme Court Reed, Stanley Forman, 1884-1980 United States. Supreme Court--Cases Harvard Law School. Frankfurter, Felix, 1882-1965

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Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.