The Federal Bench
New Dealers inside the Roosevelt Administration supported Eicher's wish to be chosen to fill one of two new seats the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, but Iowa Senator Guy M. Gillette, who resented Eicher and Roosevelt for their unsuccessful efforts to purge him from Congress in 1938, stood in the way. Instead, no Iowan received either judgeship. Eicher was eventually nominated on December 30, 1941, to be Chief Justice of the District Court of the District of Columbia. He was confirmed on January 20, 1942. Eicher filled a seat vacated by Alfred A. Wheat.
He died in Alexandria, Virginia, at age 65. At the time of his death, Eicher had presided for over seven months at the trial of 30 suspected Axis conspirators and sympathizers. Time magazine characterized the trial as "biggest and noisiest sedition trial in U.S. history," and reported that "no one in Washington doubted that a ludicrously undignified trial had hastened the death of a scrupulously dignified judge." Eicher's death caused a mistrial. After the war ended, the government chose not to prosecute again, and Judge Bolitha Laws dismissed the charges against the defendants.
Read more about this topic: Edward C. Eicher
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