Ruggero John Aldisert (November 10, 1919 – December 28, 2014) was a

United States circuit judge In the United States, a federal judge is a judge who serves on a court established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. Often called "Article III judges", federal judges include the chief justice and associate justices of the U.S. Su ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a United States federal court, federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court, district courts for the following United Sta ...

Early life and education

Born November 10, 1919, in Carnegie,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, to Italian emigrant parents, Aldisert attended the local public schools. He graduated from Carnegie High School in 1937, then earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in 1941 from the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

. However,

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

interrupted his legal studies. He volunteered and joined the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

, serving as battery commander in the Pacific Theater (1942 to 1946), attaining the rank of Major. He then finished his legal studies using the

GI Bill The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, but the te ...

, and received his

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

in 1947 from the

University of Pittsburgh School of Law The University of Pittsburgh School of Law (Pitt Law) is the law school of the University of Pittsburgh, a public research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1895 and became a charter member of the Association of American ...

. He married and raised a family, and also became active in the Italian Sons and Daughters of America, becoming the national president from 1954 to 1968.

Early career

Aldisert had a private legal practice in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, Pennsylvania from 1947 to 1961, handling trials in civil and criminal matters. He re-entered government service by becoming a Judge of the

Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas In Pennsylvania, the courts of common pleas are the trial courts of the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania (the state court system). The courts of common pleas are the trial courts of general jurisdiction in the state. The name derives fr ...

Allegheny County Allegheny County ( ) is a county in Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,250,578, making it the state's second-most populous county, after Philadelphia County. Its county seat and most populous city is Pit ...

(from 1961 to 1968). From 1963 until 1986, Aldisert also taught law as an adjunct professor at his alma mater.

Federal judicial service

President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

nominated Aldisert to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Austin Leander Staley. The

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

confirmed him on July 29, 1968, and Judge Aldisert received his commission that same day. In addition to his Third Circuit duties, Judge Aldisert served on the board of the

Federal Judicial Center The Federal Judicial Center is the education and research agency of the United States federal courts. It was established by in 1967, at the recommendation of the Judicial Conference of the United States. According to , the main areas of re ...

from 1972 to 1979. He served as Chief Judge of the Third Circuit, and as a member of the

Judicial Conference of the United States The Judicial Conference of the United States, formerly known as the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges, was created by the United States Congress in 1922 with the principal objective of framing policy guidelines for administration of judicial co ...

from June 20, 1984 to December 31, 1986. Judge Aldisert assumed senior status on December 31, 1986, but remained active for nearly two more decades. His book on Opinion Writing was distributed to American judges at judicial conferences, and reached a second edition. In addition to sitting on many appellate panels after taking senior status, Judge Aldisert also traveled to England, Germany, Italy, the former Czechoslovakia, and to Poland in 1980 (when that nation began to rebel against communist rule) to lecture on American legal principles.

Death and legacy

Judge Aldisert stopped hearing cases in August 2014 after 46 years on the bench. He died following a heart attack on December 28, 2014, aged 95, in Santa Barbara,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, and was survived by his widow, children and grandchildren. He is buried at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. More than 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia. ...

Writings

Aldisert wrote a

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

and several books on

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

and law practice, including ''The Judicial Process'' (West 2nd. ed. 1996), ''Logic for Lawyers: A Guide to Clear Legal Thinking'' (NITA 3rd ed. 1997), ''Winning on Appeal'' (NITA 2nd ed. 2003), ''Opinion Writing'' (West 2nd. ed. 2009) and ''A Judge's Advice: 50 Years on the Bench'' (CAP Press 2011). He also published a novel, ''Almost the Truth'' (about the OSS and buried treasure). Aldisert has written about what life as a senior judge is like.

Notable cases

Judge Aldisert dissented in an

ABSCAM Abscam, sometimes written ABSCAM, was a Federal Bureau of Investigation sting operation in the late 1970s and early 1980s that led to the convictions of seven members from both chambers of the United States Congress and others for bribery and co ...

sting case, in which a Philadelphia jury had convicted city councilmen of corruption, claiming that the FBI tactics resembled those in totalitarian Nazi Germany or Italy. Aldisert wrote a dissenting opinion in FAIR v. Rumsfeld, a high-profile case challenging the Solomon Amendment, a federal law denying federal funding to colleges and universities which prohibited on-campus recruiting by the military. The majority opinion enjoined enforcement of the law on First Amendment grounds (campuses had barred military recruiters based on the military's then "don't ask, don't tell" policy concerning sexual orientation). The United States Supreme Court ultimately vindicated Judge Aldisert's dissenting view which found the measures constitutional; Chief Justice

John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American jurist serving since 2005 as the 17th chief justice of the United States. He has been described as having a Moderate conservatism, moderate conservative judicial philosophy, thoug ...

wrote the unanimous opinion in Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic & Institutional Rights, Inc.547 U.S. 47 (2006)

Honors

In 2005, Judge Aldisert became the first recipient of the "Distinguished Appellate Jurist Award", bestowed by the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...

's Council of Appellate Lawyers. In 2008 Aldisert received the Legal Writing Institute's "Golden Pen Award."

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aldisert, Ruggero John 1919 births 2014 deaths Pennsylvania lawyers United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Judges of the Pennsylvania Courts of Common Pleas United States court of appeals judges appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson People from Carnegie, Pennsylvania Writers from Pennsylvania Military personnel from Pennsylvania University of Pittsburgh School of Law alumni American people of Italian descent United States Marine Corps officers