Harrie Brigham Chase

Harrie Brigham Chase was a United States circuit judge who served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1929 to 1969. Appointed by President Calvin Coolidge, a Republican, Chase had a distinguished judicial career that spanned four decades at the federal level, including a brief tenure as Chief Judge of the Second Circuit from 1953 to 1954. Before his federal appointment, he served on Vermont's state courts, including the Supreme Court of Vermont. Though he worked primarily from Vermont rather than from the Second Circuit's New York headquarters, Chase maintained a reputation for integrity and competence during a period when the Second Circuit included some of the most influential jurists in American legal history.

Early life and legal career

Born on August 9, 1889, in Whitingham, Vermont, Chase received his early education in the public schools of his hometown before attending Wilmington High School and Phillips Exeter Academy, a preparatory school in New Hampshire. He continued his education at Dartmouth College, where he earned an Artium Baccalaureus degree in 1909. Following his undergraduate studies, he pursued legal training at Boston University School of Law, receiving his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1912.

Upon admission to the Vermont bar in 1912, Chase immediately entered private practice, forming a law partnership with his father in October of that year. This family practice continued until 1919, establishing Chase's early professional foundation in Vermont's legal community. His father was attorney Charles Sumner Chase, and his mother was Carrie Brigham Chase. Chase came from a family with strong legal connections; his brother, Paul A. Chase, would later serve as an associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court.

Chase's transition from private practice to public service came in early 1919 when he was appointed state's attorney of Windham County, Vermont, serving from February through June of that year. This prosecutorial role, though brief, provided him with valuable experience in criminal law and courtroom advocacy that would inform his later judicial work. In his personal life, Chase married Mina A. Gilman of Brattleboro in 1912, and the couple had three children together.

Chase's rapid ascent in Vermont's judicial system began when Governor Percival W. Clement appointed him as a superior court judge on May 16, 1919. At only 29 years of age, Chase became one of the youngest individuals in Vermont's history to attain a judgeship, a testament to his legal abilities and professional reputation despite his relatively brief time in practice. He served as a superior court judge for eight years, until 1927, and was elevated to chief judge of the superior court from 1926 to 1927, demonstrating his leadership capabilities and the confidence placed in him by his judicial colleagues.

In 1927, Chase received another promotion when he was appointed to succeed Frank L. Fish as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Vermont, the state's highest court. His service on the Vermont Supreme Court was relatively brief, lasting only until 1929, but it positioned him for federal appointment. He was succeeded on the state supreme court by Julius A. Willcox.

Federal appellate service

President Calvin Coolidge, himself a native of Vermont, nominated Chase to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on January 19, 1929. The nomination was to fill a newly created seat that had been authorized by federal statute. The appointment came near the end of Coolidge's presidency and represented a significant elevation for Chase, bringing him to one of the nation's most important federal appellate courts. The Second Circuit, with jurisdiction over New York, Connecticut, and Vermont, handled a substantial volume of complex commercial, securities, and admiralty cases due to New York City's position as the nation's financial center.

Chase's nomination was not without controversy in legal circles. The appointment disappointed Learned Hand, already a distinguished judge on the Second Circuit, and other advocates who had hoped for the promotion of Thomas D. Thacher from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to the circuit court. Thacher, who did not receive the appointment, went on to serve as Solicitor General of the United States, the federal government's chief advocate before the Supreme Court.

The Senate confirmed Chase on January 31, 1929, and he received his commission the same day, allowing him to begin his federal judicial service immediately. Chase's approach to his circuit judgeship was unconventional for the Second Circuit. Rather than relocating to New York or maintaining chambers there, he primarily worked from his chambers in Brattleboro, Vermont, where he and his family lived. He commuted to New York only when court business required his presence, a practice that set him apart from his colleagues. This geographic separation meant that Chase never became part of the core group of judges who formed the intellectual center of the Second Circuit during this period.

Despite his physical distance from the court's New York headquarters, Chase served with distinction for twenty-five years as an active judge. In 1953, he was elevated to Chief Judge of the Second Circuit, the court's administrative leader, and in that capacity also served as a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States, the national policymaking body for the federal courts. His tenure as Chief Judge lasted until 1954, when he assumed senior status on September 1 of that year. Senior status is a form of semi-retirement that allows federal judges to continue hearing cases on a reduced schedule while making way for a new active judge. Chase was succeeded as an active judge by Sterry R. Waterman, also of Vermont, continuing the state's representation on the circuit.

After assuming senior status, Chase heard very few cases after the mid-1950s, effectively retiring from active judicial work while retaining his commission. His federal judicial service officially terminated on November 17, 1969, when he died at the age of 80 in Vernon, Vermont. He was interred at Morningside Cemetery in Brattleboro.

Jurisprudence and legacy

Chase's judicial philosophy and approach to the law were characterized by observers as conservative and workmanlike rather than intellectually ambitious. A biographer of Learned Hand described Chase as a modest individual who never claimed to be an intellectual or particularly penetrating student of legal doctrine. According to this assessment, Chase preferred recreational activities such as golf to intensive engagement with complex legal arguments and the crafting of judicial opinions. Nevertheless, the same observer credited Chase with possessing integrity and competence, qualities that distinguished him from some of his more problematic colleagues on the Second Circuit.

The contrast with Martin Thomas Manton, another Second Circuit judge who served during Chase's tenure, was particularly notable. Manton resigned from the bench in 1939 amid corruption allegations and subsequently served time in federal prison after being convicted of accepting bribes, a scandal that rocked the federal judiciary. Chase was specifically noted as not being a political judge preoccupied with cronyism, suggesting that his approach to judging was straightforward and honest, even if not marked by exceptional legal brilliance.

Chase's legacy is largely understood in relation to his more famous colleagues on the Second Circuit. During his tenure, the court included some of the most influential jurists in American legal history, and Chase's more modest contributions have been somewhat overshadowed by their achievements. His conservative approach to judging reflected a cautious, incremental view of the judicial role that contrasted with more activist or intellectually adventurous approaches taken by other members of the court.

One notable aspect of Chase's influence on the legal profession came through his mentorship of law clerks. Among those who clerked for Chase was James L. Oakes, who later himself became a judge on the Second Circuit, demonstrating the continuity of judicial service and the importance of the clerkship system in training future members of the federal bench. In his personal beliefs, Chase was a Universalist in religion and was affiliated with the Republican Party, though as a federal judge he served in a nonpartisan capacity.