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Lauson Stone

Summary

Lauson Harvey Stone (1904 in Manhattan – November 7, 1999 in Brooklyn), son of US Chief Justice Harlan Stone, was an American lawyer and civic leader.

Stone received a bachelor's degree in 1925 from Harvard University and a law degree in 1928 from Columbia University.[1] He became a corporate lawyer with Sullivan & Cromwell, but found work at the large firm stifling, and left for a smaller practice.[2] He resided in Brooklyn, where he was a trustee of the public library and of the Long Island College of Medicine.[1]

In 1938 he was appointed by New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia to the Board of Higher Education, replacing Arthur M. Howe.[1] La Guardia reappointed him for a second term, of nine years, in 1940.[3] By the following year, he was chairman of the conduct committee for the Board, and was elected chairman of the administrative committee of Brooklyn College.[4] His Board of Higher Education duties included leading the investigation for the Rapp-Coudert Committee into the extent of communist influence within the public schools.[5]

He resigned his Board of Higher Education position in 1942 to enter the Army as a major.[6][7] Later that year, he was assigned by the U.S. War Department to be a defense lawyer for eight Nazi saboteurs involved in Operation Pastorius.[8] President Roosevelt had directed that the saboteurs be tried via a military tribunal; Lauson's designated role for the defense was to research whether this was constitutionally permissible.[9] Lauson believed there was a strong possibility that a military trial was unconstitutional, and therefore the defense sought a Supreme Court order declaring as much.[9] With the matter set to come before the Supreme Court as Ex parte Quirin, there was a question as to whether Lauson's father, Chief Justice Harlan Stone, would recuse himself from the case due to his son's involvement with the defense.[10] Harlan did offer to do so, but his recusal was declined by Attorney General Francis Biddle, ostensibly because Lauson's involvement had been limited to the military tribunal, and he had been excused from the matters that were coming before the Supreme Court.[11] Legal scholars have questioned this distinction, citing it as one example among many potential conflicts of interest produced by the case's unique circumstances.[9][12][13]

In 1944, at age 41, Lauson was promoted to the rank of colonel,[14] and he was later discharged at that rank, after being awarded the Legion of Merit Medal.[7] He died at age 94 in Brooklyn.[8]

External links edit

  • The Use of Military Tribunals, D.C. Circuit Judicial Conference, Remarks of the Chief Justice, June 14, 2002

References edit

  1. ^ a b c "Justice Stone's Son Gets School Post: Lawyer to Fill Vacancy on Board of Higher Education". The New York Times. 1938-07-20.
  2. ^ Weidlich, Thom (2000). Appointment Denied: The Inquisition of Betrand Russell. Prometheus Books. p. 155. ISBN 978-1-57392-788-8.
  3. ^ "Stays on College Board: L.H. Stone Reappointed for 9 Years by the Mayor". The New York Times. 1940-07-04. p. 15.
  4. ^ "Heads Administrators For Brooklyn College". The New York Times. 1941-05-07. p. 52.
  5. ^ "Stone Assumes Lombardo Post at Boro College". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1941-05-07. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
  6. ^ "Orrin G. Judd Begins School Board Duties". The Brooklyn Citizen. 1942-06-23. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
  7. ^ a b Corby, Jane (1948-04-18). "When Mr. Stone's on Job, Things Start to Happen". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. p. 27. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
  8. ^ a b Pace, Eric (1999-11-12). "L. H. Stone, 94, Defender of 8 In '42 Trial For Sabotage". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  9. ^ a b c Feldman, Noah (2010-11-08). Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices. Hachette+ORM. ISBN 978-0-446-57514-0.
  10. ^ "Stone and Murphy May Refuse to Hear Appeals From Saboteurs". The Daily Oklahoman. 1942-07-29. p. 11. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
  11. ^ O'Donnell, Pierce (2005). In Time of War: Hitler's Terrorist Attack on America. New York : New Press ; Distributed by W.W. Norton. pp. 213–214. ISBN 978-1-56584-958-7.
  12. ^ Moller, Mark K. (2004-10-25). Cato Supreme Court Review, 2003-2004. Cato Institute. p. 82. ISBN 978-1-935308-43-0.
  13. ^ Meeker, Leonard C. (2007-06-04). Experiences. Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 978-1-4691-2319-6.
  14. ^ "Two Are Made Colonels; Fourteen Majors From This Area Also Promoted". The New York Times. 1944-09-26. p. 36.