James Alger Fee - Legal Career

Legal Career

Fee returned to Oregon where he passed the bar in 1914, and entered private practice in his hometown of Pendleton. In 1916, he began serving as that city’s attorney, staying until 1917 when he joined the Army’s Air Corps as a lieutenant. Fee remained with the United States Army until 1919 when moved to the United States War Department as a member of the legal staff. In 1920, he left the War Department and returned to Pendleton and private practice.

In 1927, Fee left private practice to start a judicial career, serving as on the Oregon Circuit Court from 1927 to 1931. On March 18, 1931, President Herbert Hoover appointed Fee to Oregon’s federal district court to replace Robert S. Bean who had died in office. This was a recess appointment, with Fee starting immediately, but he was later confirmed by the United States Senate on December 22, 1931, with him receiving his commission the following day. Beginning in 1948 through April 30, 1954, he served as the court’s chief judge, leaving that position when he left the court.

During his over twenty years on the district court he ruled on a variety of topics. In United States v. Earnest F. Cramer and E. R. Cramer, Fee ruled that Native Americans through treaties they signed in the 19th century had superior fishing rights over non-Native Americans at places such as Celilo Falls. In 1952, Fee decided two cases concerning the 1948 flood of Vanport, Oregon. He ruled that the government was not liable for the damage caused to the residents’ property.

Some other cases included a labor dispute involving Montgomery Ward, holding the Methodist Episcopal Church legally obligated to pay bondholders on defaulted bonds they issued to build a hospital, and even refused to appoint a commissioner for Crater Lake National Park. He also ruled on the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, presided over a case in Pennsylvania, and signed off on the condemnation of the water company serving Salem, Oregon, as that city took over the water supply.

On April 6, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower nominated Fee to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The Senate confirmed him on April 23, and he received his commission on April 30, replacing Clifton Mathews on the court. Fee moved to San Francisco, California where the court’s main office is located, where he served until his death. In 1957, he wrote the opinion in Bartholomae Corp. v. United States, 253 F.2d 716 (9th Cir. 1957), that refused to hold the federal government liable for damages related to nuclear bomb testing in 1951.