Charles Henry Robb

Charles Henry Robb was a federal appellate judge who served on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for more than three decades in the early twentieth century. Born in 1867 in upstate New York, he pursued a legal career that took him from small-town Vermont practice to prosecuting corruption in the federal government before his appointment to the federal bench by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. He served as a circuit judge until assuming senior status in 1937, and remained a senior judge until his death in 1939.

Early life and legal career

Charles Henry Robb was born on November 14, 1867, in Malone, New York, to Isaac M. Robb and Clara Slater Matthews. His family's surname had previously been rendered in various forms, including Robideau, Robadeau, and Rubadeau, before settling on the anglicized spelling of Robb. During his childhood and youth, his family moved several times, and he was raised in multiple communities across the Northeast, including Lincoln, Rhode Island, Troy, New York, and Guilford, Vermont.

Robb received his secondary education at Brattleboro High School in Brattleboro, Vermont, and subsequently graduated from Glenwood Seminary in West Brattleboro in 1886. Following his graduation, he initially contemplated a military career and began preparing for the entrance examination to the United States Military Academy. However, he ultimately decided to pursue the study of law instead of attending West Point.

He undertook his legal training through the traditional apprenticeship method of the era, studying with the law firm of Kittredge Haskins and Edgar W. Stoddard. After completing his studies, Robb gained admission to the bar in 1892. He established his legal practice in Bellows Falls, Vermont, where he practiced law from 1894 to 1902. During this period, he became active in local Republican politics and was elected to serve as State's Attorney for Windham County, Vermont, holding that prosecutorial position for three years from 1896 to 1899.

Beyond his legal practice, Robb engaged in business and banking activities in Vermont. He was among the incorporators of the Bellows Falls Trust Company and served as an officer of that institution. He also participated actively in professional organizations, maintaining memberships in both the Vermont Bar Association and the American Bar Association, demonstrating his commitment to the legal profession beyond his individual practice.

Robb's career took a significant turn when he left private practice to work for the federal government. He served as an attorney for the Internal Revenue Service before moving to the Department of Justice. From 1903 to 1904, he held the position of Assistant Attorney General in the United States Post Office Department, where his responsibilities included investigating misconduct and prosecuting corrupt officials within the postal service. Following this assignment, he continued his service in the Department of Justice as an assistant to the United States Attorney General from 1904 to 1906.

Federal appellate service

President Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, selected Robb for appointment to the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, the tribunal that would later be renamed the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Robb received a recess appointment to an associate justice seat on October 5, 1906, filling a vacancy that had been created by the departure of Charles Holland Duell. President Roosevelt formally nominated Robb to the same position on December 3, 1906. The United States Senate confirmed the nomination on December 11, 1906, and Robb received his commission on the same day, officially beginning his tenure on the court.

The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia occupied a unique position in the federal judiciary. While it functioned as a regional circuit court for the nation's capital, it also heard appeals in matters involving federal administrative agencies, giving it a distinctive and important role in the development of administrative law. Robb would serve on this court during a period of significant growth in the federal government and the expansion of administrative agencies.

Robb's service on the bench extended over three decades. Throughout this lengthy tenure, he participated in the court's work during a transformative era in American law and government. The court during his service addressed questions arising from the expansion of federal regulatory authority and the growth of the administrative state, particularly during and after World War I and through the early years of the New Deal.

While serving as a federal judge, Robb also contributed to legal education. He joined the faculty of the National University Law School, an institution that would later become George Washington University Law School. His dual role as both a sitting federal judge and a law professor allowed him to share his judicial experience with the next generation of attorneys. In recognition of his contributions to the legal profession and legal education, National University conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws in 1926.

On November 15, 1937, Robb assumed senior status on the court, a form of semi-retirement that allowed him to continue hearing cases on a reduced basis while creating a vacancy for a new active judge to be appointed. He continued to serve in senior status until his death.

Jurisprudence and legacy

Robb's more than thirty years of service on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit spanned a critical period in the development of federal law. His tenure on the bench extended from the Progressive Era through the New Deal, decades that witnessed fundamental changes in the relationship between the federal government and American society. The court on which he served played an important role in reviewing the actions of federal agencies and interpreting the scope of federal regulatory authority.

His service on the court concluded with his death in Washington, D.C., on June 10, 1939, bringing to an end a judicial career that had lasted nearly thirty-one years from his initial recess appointment. His total length of federal judicial service placed him among the longer-serving judges of his era.

Robb's influence extended beyond his own judicial service through his family. In 1897, he had married Nettie M. George, the daughter of Dr. Ozias M. George of Bellows Falls. His son, Roger Robb, followed him into the federal judiciary, also serving as a United States Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, creating a notable father-son judicial legacy on the same court. His daughter Priscilla married airline pilot Elliot A. Billings and lived until 2011. Robb was a member of the Episcopal Church.

The trajectory of Robb's career reflected the opportunities available to skilled attorneys in the early twentieth century, moving from rural practice to federal prosecution to the federal bench, and his lengthy service contributed to the institutional development of one of the nation's most important federal appellate courts.