Events & Projects

This page describes briefly upcoming events, recent news, ongoing Society projects and collections of materials concerning the history of the federal courts of the Tenth Circuit.  By clicking onto items or names that are underlined the reader will be linked to the information referenced.

News

Chief Judge Tacha receives Devitt Award for distinguished service to justice. (PDF) (online version)
 

Events

Recent Judicial Milestones (from "The Third Branch")

Appointments: 2008 - Benjamin McMurray from the Utah Federal Defender's Office in Salt Lake City has been assigned as Supreme Court Fellow with the United States Sentencing Commission, August 31; Kathleen M. Tafoya, as U.S. Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, January 4.

Appointments: 2007 - Timothy D. DeGiusti, as U.S. District Judge, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, August 9; Gregory K. Frizzell, as U.S. District Judge, Northern District of Oklahoma, February 2.  Kristen L. Mix, as U.S. Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, August 6.

Elevated: 2008 - U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Robert H. Henry, to Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, succeeding U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Deanell Reece Tacha, January 1; U.S. District Judge Kathryn H. Vratil, to Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, succeeding U.S. District Judge John W. Lungstrum, January 1.

Elevated: 2007 - U.S. District Judge Edward W. Nottingham, to Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, succeeding U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock, June 8; U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Niles L. Jackson, to Chief Bankruptcy Judge, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Oklahoma succeeding U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas M. Weaver, April 5; Bankruptcy Judge Howard Tallman to Chief Judge in Colorado, succeeding Bankruptcy Judge Sidney B. Brooks, January 5.

Senior Status: 2008 - U.S. Judge Lewis T. Babcock, U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, April 4; U.S. District Judge Walker D. Miller, U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, March 31; U.S. District Judge Monti L. Belot, U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, March 4

Deaths: 2008 - District Judge Phillip S. Figa, U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, dies at age 56.  Here is a link to his obituaries Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post.

Deaths: 2007 - District Judge Patrick Kelly, U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, dies at age 78. Here is a link to his obituary in the Wichita Eagle.

Retired: 2007 - U.S. Senior District Judge Ralph G. Thompson, U.S. District Court for the District of Oklahoma, August 6.

Resigned: 2007 - U.S. District Judge Paul G. Cassell, U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, November 5.
 

Projects
 

Updated Circuit History Project.  The Society is updating the circuit history published in 1992 and adding chapters on the bankruptcy courts and the magistrate judges.  Currently available on the website are material on the lives and contributions of deceased judges Frederick Daugherty (OK), George Thomas VanBebber (KS),  Royce Savage (OK), Dale E. Saffels (KS), Alfred Arraj (CO), Earl O'Connor (KS),  Luther Eubanks (OK),  Arthur Stanley (KS), Frank Theis (KS), Luther Bohanon (OK),  Stephen Chandler (OK) and Frederick Winner (CO).
 

Lawyers and the Profession.  The Society seeks to make available biographical sketches of lawyers (often recently deceased) who have had important roles in the legal profession within the circuit and articles on the legal profession or events with historical relevance within the circuit.  Currently on the website are biographical sketches of the following attorneys: Howard Bratton (NM), Ewing Kerr (WY),  Stanely Hathaway (WY), William H. Brown (WY),  Bernard Rodey (NM), Thad Smith (CO), Gerald Michaud (KS), Bernard Nordling (KS), and Jack Focht (KS).  Also there is a Historical Profile of Lawyers Practicing in Colorado.
 

General Interest.  Quite often books, parts of books, articles in law reviews or historical society journals come to the attention of the Society that appear relevant to the history of the circuit or the lawyers and judges within it. One is a recent article on a former chief judge of the circuit, Alfred P. Murrah, written by Oklahoma Federal District Court Judge Terry C. Kern.  Another is a memoir written by James K. Logan, a retired circuit judge, for his grandchildren, which contains two chapters describing his nearly 21 years from 1977 to 1998 on the circuit.
 

Portions of the 1992 “The Federal Courts of the Tenth Circuit: A History” were reprinted and sent to the members of the Society in 2005.  Chapter 1, the history of the law in the area of the Tenth Circuit in the pre-territorial days, written by the late Professor Paul Wilson, is currently on the web site.

Suggestions/Submissions.  The Society welcomes suggestions and submissions of items of interest relating to any aspect of the federal courts and the legal profession within the Tenth Circuit.  Please submit them by regular mail to our physical address shown on this web site or by email.