Paul Farthing
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

William Dudley Paul Farthing (April 12, 1887 – December 2, 1976) was an American jurist who served on the
Supreme Court of Illinois The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the judiciary of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the ...
from 1933 until 1942 and on the Illinois Court of Claims from 1950 until 1954. Before this, he served as a St. Clair County Circuit Court from 1930 until 1933. Farthing was blind for most of his life, having loss his eyesight in a hunting accident at the age of twelve. In 1949, President
Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...
short-listed him as a possible nominee for the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
.


Early life and education

Farthing was born April 122, 1887 in Odin, Illinois. He was one of two sons of his parens, William Dudley Farthing and Sarah Boyd Farthing . While his full name was" "William Dudley Paul Farthing", he was better-known as "Paul Farthing" and many government documents throughout his lifetime referred to him as the latter. Farthing was blinded in a hunting accident when he was twelve years old. He attended the Illinois School for the Blind, graduating in 1904. He then received his bachelor's degree from
McKendree University McKendree University (McK), formerly McKendree College, is a private university in Lebanon, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1828 as the "Lebanon Seminary", it is the oldest college or university in Illinois. The school was renamed McKendree ...
in 1909 and his law degree from University of Illinois Law School in 1913. While he was attending university, his brother Chester enrolled alongside him and helped study by reading the materials to him. Farthing was known to have a strong memory, which allowed him to in retain information that was read to him.


Private practice career

After graduating law school, Fathering practiced law, opening a private practice in
East St. Louis, Illinois East St. Louis, also known as ESTL, is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. It is directly across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Louis, Missouri, and the Gateway Arch National Park. East St. Louis is in the Metro East ...
. For much of his legal career, he practiced alongside his brother since they had both graduated law school together. Farthing resided in
Belleville, Illinois Belleville is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. It is a southeastern suburb of St. Louis. The population was 42,404 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the most populated city in the Me ...
his entire adult life, and after initially working out of East St. Louis, he shortened his commute by moving his practice's office to Belleville. After leaving the state supreme court, Farthing returned to private practice, rejoining his brother Chester at their firm of Farthing, Farthing, and Feickert. In July 1958, his brother retired, and Farthing joined the Belleville law office office of his own son William. Farthing retired in 1966 at the age of 79.


Master in Chancery of the East St. Louis City court

For six years, Farthing served as master in chancery for the city court of East St. Louis.


Judicial career


St. Clair County Circuit Court (1930–33)

In 1924, he ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic for the St. Clair County Circuit Court. His wife, Harriet, accompanied him on the campaign trail, driving him to events. Farthing ran again in 1930, that time winning election.


Illinois Supreme Court (1933–42)

In 1933, he won election to the first district seat on the
Illinois Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the judiciary of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the fiv ...
, defeating Charles H. Miller. The election was contentious. As a Democrat, Farthing benefited from the same political climate that had allowed
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
to win a
landslide election A landslide victory is an election result in which the winning candidate or party achieves a decisive victory by an overwhelming margin, securing a very large majority of votes or seats far beyond the typical competitive outcome. The term became ...
in the previous year's presidential election. He served a single term. In October 1933 (several months after joining the court), he authored his first opinion in ''People v. Scowley''. In 1939, Farthing authored a dissenting opinion in ''Swing et al. v. American Federation of Labor''. The majority opinion upheld a lower court ruling that allowed a union members to be denied the right to picket a workplace they were not employed at regardless of whether the protest was peaceful. Farthing dissented from this. When the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
reversed this decision in '' American Federation of Labor v. Swing'', the
majority opinion In law, a majority opinion is a judicial opinion agreed to by more than half of the members of a court. A majority opinion sets forth the decision of the court and an explanation of the rationale behind the court's decision. Not all cases hav ...
by
Felix Frankfurter Felix Frankfurter (November 15, 1882 – February 22, 1965) was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 until 1962, advocating judicial restraint. Born in Vienna, Frankfurter im ...
and the
concurrence In Western jurisprudence, concurrence (also contemporaneity or simultaneity) is the apparent need to prove the simultaneous occurrence of both ("guilty action") and ("guilty mind"), to constitute a crime; except in crimes of strict liabilit ...
s authored by
Hugo Black Hugo Lafayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist who served as a U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1927 to 1937 and as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, ass ...
and
William O. Douglas William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898January 19, 1980) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 to 1975. Douglas was known for his strong progressive and civil libertari ...
agreed with the argument that had been made in Farthing's dissent. After the passage of the Civil Practice Act of 1934, the court occupied much of its time with writing rules of
civil procedure Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and regulations along with some standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or ca ...
of the state's court system. This took several years, and resulted in the creation of 71 rules. Efforts were made during this process to have the rules address procedural concerns that had gone largely unaddressed in the decades since the state had ratified its 1870 constitution. However, many of these problems ultimately went unaddressed until voters approved a constitutional amendment in 1962. From June 1937 until June 1938, he served as chief justice of the court. The chief judge position rotated between the court's justices. While on the court, Farthing remained involved in Democratic Party politics, and was a delegate to the
1936 Democratic National Convention The 1936 Democratic National Convention was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from June 23 to 27, 1936. The convention resulted in the nomination of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Vice President John N. Garner for reelection. Changes t ...
. Farthing lost re-election in 1942, when Illinois saw a
wave election In physics, mathematics, engineering, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from equilibrium) of one or more quantities. '' Periodic waves'' oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium (resting) value at some fre ...
favoring Republican judicial candidates. Republican nominee Charles H. Thompson defeated farthing by a margin of less than 2%.


Consideration by Truman for U.S. Supreme Court nomination

In 1949, Farthing was one of six short-listed candidates that President
Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...
considered to replace
Wiley Rutledge Wiley Blount Rutledge Jr. (July 20, 1894 – September 10, 1949) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1943 to 1949. The ninth and final justice appointed by President Franklin ...
on the U.S. Supreme Court. Truman instead nominated
Sherman Minton Sherman "Shay" Minton (October 20, 1890 – April 9, 1965) was an American politician and jurist who served as a U.S. senator from Indiana and later became an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; he was a member of the ...
, who was confirmed.


Illinois Court of Claims (1950–54)

In 1950, governor
Adlai Stevenson II Adlai Ewing Stevenson II (; February 5, 1900 – July 14, 1965) was an American politician and diplomat who was the United States ambassador to the United Nations from 1961 until his death in 1965. He previously served as the 31st governor of Ill ...
appointed Farthing to the Illinois Court of Claims. In 1952, he was re-appointed for a second term by Republican governor
William Stratton William Grant Stratton (February 26, 1914 – March 2, 2001) was an American politician who served as the 32nd governor of Illinois from 1953 to 1961. Early life and career Born February 26, 1914, in Ingleside, Lake County, Illinois, the s ...
. In 1954, he resigned from the court early, doing so before the expiration of his second term.


Personal life and death

Farthing and his wife Harriet had three children: daughters Sarah M. Kenegy () and Edna Grace McKinley (), son William Dudley Farthing. Edna predeceased Farthing. Farthing was a founder of the Belleville Optimist Club. He served leadership roles within his local
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
congregation. Over the course of 27 years, Farthing and his brother Chester assembled a complete collection of all 260 volumes of imprints of Illinois laws, dating back to its territorial era. In 1952, they donated this collection to the
DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...
Library. At the time of the donation, the collection was valued at $17,000. Farthing died at Belleville's St. Elizabeth's Hospital on December 2, 1976 at the age of 89. His funeral was held at the First Presbyterian Church. He was survived by his widow Harriet, his daughter Sarah, and his son William.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farthing, Paul 1887 births 1976 deaths People from East St. Louis, Illinois People from Marion County, Illinois McKendree University alumni University of Illinois alumni Illinois state court judges Chief justices of the Supreme Court of Illinois Blind politicians 20th-century Illinois state court judges Blind lawyers American lawyers with disabilities American politicians with disabilities Illinois Democrats