Bolitha James Laws (August 22, 1891 – November 1, 1958) was a United States federal judge.
Born in Washington, D.C., Laws received an LL.B. from Georgetown University Law School in 1913, and an LL.M. from the same institution in 1914. He was an assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1914 to 1920. He was in private practice in New York City from 1920 to 1921, and was a litigation counsel and assistant general counsel to the United States Shipping Board, Emergency Fleet Corporation from 1921 to 1922. He then returned to private practice in Washington, D.C., from 1922 to 1938.
On June 10, 1938, Laws was nominated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to a new seat on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, created by 52 Stat. 584. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 16, 1938, and received his commission on June 24, 1938. On January 19, 1945, Roosevelt nominated Laws for elevation to Chief Justice of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, the seat having been vacated by Edward C. Eicher. Laws was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 22, 1945, and received his commission on February 23, 1945. In the fall of 1945 he was the judge in the trial of Ezra Pound. Laws served in that capacity until September 1, 1948, when the court was reorganized, eliminating the chief justice position. Laws was reassigned by operation of law to a regular judgeship on the court, but served thereafter as chief judge of the court until his death, in 1958.
Famous quotes containing the words james and/or laws:
“We, the lineal representatives of the successful enactors of one scene of slaughter after another, must, whatever more pacific virtues we may also possess, still carry about with us, ready at any moment to burst into flame, the smoldering and sinister traits of character by means of which they lived through so many massacres, harming others, but themselves unharmed.”
—William James (1842–1910)
“I have not yet learned to live, that I can see, and I fear that I shall not very soon. I find, however, that in the long run things correspond to my original idea,—that they correspond to nothing else so much; and thus a man may really be a true prophet without any great exertion. The day is never so dark, nor the night even, but that the laws at least of light still prevail, and so may make it light in our minds if they are open to the truth.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)