Florence E. Allen

thumb|right|[[Belle Sherwin and Florence Ellinwood Allen at Woman suffrage headquarters, Upper Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, 1912]]

Florence Ellinwood Allen (March 23, 1884 – September 12, 1966) was a United States federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1934-1959.

Early life and education

Florence E. Allen was born on March 23, 1884, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the daughter of Clarence Emir Allen Sr., a mine manager and later a United States Representative from Utah, and his wife Corinne Marie, née Tuckerman. She was one of seven children—five girls, one of whom died in infancy, and two boys. Her family valued community activism and education. Allen's father, a professor and linguist, moved the family from Salt Lake City, Utah to Cleveland, Ohio to teach at Western Reserve University, now known as Case Western Reserve University.

Florence Allen grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. Her father taught her Greek and Latin as a child. Allen also studied music and poetry growing up. Allen attended the New Lyme Institute in Ashtabula, Ohio. Afterwards, Allen attended Western Reserve, now Case Western Reserve University, majoring in music. Allen graduated in 1904 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She returned to Ohio in 1906 and took a job in Cleveland, Ohio as the music critic for The Plain Dealer newspaper until 1909. However, in order to become successful, what she needed was some experience, so she did volunteer work with the local Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, where she not only got that experience but got involved with an important case about suffrage. During this time, she also became involved in another cause, one that would be important to her all of her life: disarmament and the quest for world peace. For Allen, this was personal: both of her brothers died while serving their country during the First World War. her career flourished. In 1919, she was appointed the assistant prosecuting attorney for Cleveland's Cuyahoga County. An active Democrat, she nevertheless encountered opposition from Democratic party chairman Burr Gongwer. However, the appointment was approved and she became the first woman in Ohio to hold such a position. She then began bringing cases before the grand jury. She also continued to advocate women's rights, even giving talks about her devotion to the Democratic party and the political process.

By 1920, Allen won election as a Court of Common Pleas judge on a non-partisan ticket. She was the first woman in this position. Allen resisted her colleagues' efforts to assign her to a special divorce division within the court. Instead, Allen insisted on hearing the court's full range of cases under its jurisdiction, and during her time on the bench she tried nearly 900 cases. Motto was convicted, and in mid-May 1921, Allen sentenced Motto to the electric chair. She continued to be a popular figure in Ohio, honored by numerous civic groups for her fair-mindedness; and lawyers who came before her praised her willingness to listen.

A pacifist, Allen was an opponent of war and argued that the only way to avoid war was to outlaw it. War must be made outlawed and declared a crime, she said. She also called for the establishment of an international court that has jurisdiction over purely international disputes and that international law should be codified on the basis of equity and right.

Federal judicial service

President Franklin D. Roosevelt nominated Allen on March 6, 1934, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit vacated by Judge Smith Hickenlooper. Among the local bench and bar, opinions about the suitability of her appointment were divided. The FBI reported that "[s]ome members of Cleveland Bar favor her appointment alleging able, fair, independent, conscientious, judicious, legal mind and well qualified in every respect." However, other attorneys and sitting male judges vigorously opposed Allen’s appointment, telling FBI background investigators that she was as a woman she was "naturally unqualified" and its report reflects that sentiment. These attorneys and judges protested that appointing a woman would lower their standards and make them a laughingstock.

She was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 15, 1934, and received her commission on March 21, 1934. Allen's nomination to the prestigious position received widespread praise. Newspaper articles described Allen as "an able jurist" and a "profound student" of the law. and was a member of the National Association of Women Lawyers.

Supreme Court speculation

The press continued to speculate on Allen as a possible Supreme Court nominee. In early 1939, when Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis was about to retire, some of Allen's supporters tried to persuade President Roosevelt that it was time to name a woman, and they reminded the president that Allen was extremely qualified. Chief among advocates on her behalf was Lillian D. Rock, former vice president of the National Association of Women Lawyers and chair of a newly created committee whose purpose was to encourage the appointment of more women to important positions in government. Allen was not named to the Supreme Court, however, and it was another male judge, William O. Douglas, who replaced Justice Brandeis. For the next few years, every time a vacancy occurred, Allen's supporters would again suggest her, but to no avail.

Continued advocacy

On the Circuit Court, Sixth Circuit, she heard cases from Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee. In 1940, she wrote This Constitution of Ours. Even after World War II broke out, Allen remained steadfast in her determination to work for peace. She continued speaking and gave talks both in person and on radio. In 1944, the National Association of Women lawyers put her name forth as someone who should be involved in international peace negotiations. When the war ended, she continued to speak to civic groups, especially women's clubs. Her message was that relying on the United Nations would not prevent the next war. It was essential for individual citizens to keep demanding that each country—whether large or small—have respect for the rule of law. "To secure peace, there must be justice," she told 3,000 attendees at a conference of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs. "There cannot be justice unless there is a rebirth of moral principle among the nations. There cannot be a rebirth of moral principle unless the conscience of the peoples becomes articulate."

Allen herself remained a very articulate spokeswoman on the issues she cared about. She was regarded as such a credible figure that in 1947, the American Academy of Political and Social Science asked her to do a study of women's voting patterns, to offer her assessment of whether women were in fact using the franchise, and whether they were active in the political process.

Renewed Supreme Court speculation

Allen's supporters again sought to have her appointed to the United States Supreme Court during Harry S. Truman's presidency, but Truman seemed to be opposed to having a woman sitting on the highest court of the land. Allen was later told that Truman's reluctance to appoint her had to do with his belief that having a woman around would make the male judges uncomfortable. "They say they couldn't sit around with their robes off and their feet up and discuss the problems." Truman's reluctance to appoint a woman extended to other venues. When there were more than 20 Federal court vacancies, his original list of nominees was all male; only after some influential women politicians protested, the president named one woman, Burnita Shelton Matthews, to the bench of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 1949. After her retirement, she continued to do speaking engagements and began working on her autobiography. It was called To Do Justly, and was published in the autumn of 1965.

References

External links

Russ, J. A. 1997. Florence Ellinwood Allen
Entry for Florence Ellinwood Allen in the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
Florence Ellinwood Allen Papers. Schlesinger Library , Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University
Allen, Florence Ellinwood Papers at the Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College.
Florence Ellinwood Allen at the National Women's Hall of Fame