HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Shirley Ann Mount Hufstedler (August 24, 1925 – March 30, 2016) was an American attorney and judge who served as the first
United States secretary of education The United States secretary of education is the head of the United States Department of Education. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States, and the federal government, on policies, programs, and activi ...
from 1979 to 1981. She previously served as a U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals from 1968 to 1979. At the time of her presidential cabinet appointment under President
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
, she was the highest ranking-woman in the U.S. federal judiciary.


Early life and education

Hufstedler was born Shirley Ann Mount on August 24, 1925, in
Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
,
Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
. Her mother's side of the family emigrated to the United States from
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and were pioneers in
Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
. Hufstedler's father worked in construction and during the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
the family had to move frequently so he could find work. As a result, she frequently changed schools and towns starting in the second grade. As a child, she lived in
New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
,
Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...
,
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
Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...
. A friend of her father's and famous war correspondent,
Ernie Pyle Ernest Taylor Pyle (August 3, 1900 – April 18, 1945) was an American journalist and war correspondent who is best known for his stories about ordinary American soldiers during World War II. Pyle is also notable for the Columnist#Newspaper and ...
, became a close friend and mentor of Hufstedler. Hufstedler received a
Bachelor of Business Administration A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is an undergraduate degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of four years and typically 120 credits of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of busine ...
degree in 1945 from the
University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...
and a
Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...
in 1949 from
Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (SLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Stanford University, a Private university, private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, Stanford Law had an acceptance rate of 6.28% i ...
.


Career

Initial attempts to begin her career after graduating proved to be difficult. Her graduating class from law school included only two women, as three of them dropped out, and although she graduated at the top of her class, she was still a woman in a male-dominated profession and she struggled to find employment opportunities. She started writing briefs for other lawyers and picked up other similar tasks. Ultimately, she opened up her own office in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
in 1951. From there, she managed to make her way to the Attorney General's Office. She served as Special Legal Consultant to the
Attorney General of California The attorney general of California is the state attorney general of the government of California. The officer must ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" ( Constitution of California, Article V, Section 13). ...
in the complex Colorado River litigation before the
U.S. 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 ...
from 1960 to 1961.


California Superior Court Judge

In 1961, she was appointed Judge of the
Los Angeles County Superior Court The Superior Court of Los Angeles County is the California Superior Courts of California, Superior Court located in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County. It is the largest single unified trial court in the United States. The Sup ...
, by Governor
Pat Brown Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown (April 21, 1905 – February 16, 1996) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 32nd governor of California from 1959 to 1967. His first elected office was as district attorney for San Francisco, and he ...
. a position to which she was elected in 1962 as a
Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...
. At the time she was appointed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court, she was the only female in a group of 119 men. Judge Shirley M. Hufstedler is widely credited with introducing tentative rulings to American courts while sitting in Los Angeles Superior Court. In 1966, she was appointed Associate Justice of the
California Court of Appeal The California Courts of Appeal are the state intermediate appellate courts in the U.S. state of California. The state is geographically divided along county lines into six appellate districts.
s.


Federal judicial service

Hufstedler was nominated by 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 ...
on July 17, 1968, to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, to a new seat authorized by 82 Stat. 184. She was confirmed by the
U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...
on September 12, 1968, and received her commission on September 12, 1968. Her service terminated on December 5, 1979, due to her resignation.


Selected judicial opinions

In 1973, a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided in '' Lau v. Nichols'' that the
San Francisco Unified School District San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), established in 1851, is the only public school district within the City and County of San Francisco, and the first in the state of California. Under the management of the San Francisco Board of Edu ...
had not violated the Fourteenth Amendment when it provided inadequate supplemental language support for non-English speakers. Hufstedler was not a member of this panel, but she called for the case to be reheard by the entire Ninth Circuit Court, ''
en banc In law, an ''en banc'' (; alternatively ''in banc'', ''in banco'' or ''in bank''; ) session is when all the judges of a court sit to hear a case, not just one judge or a smaller panel of judges. For courts like the United States Courts of Appeal ...
''. Hufstedler wrote, "access to education offered by the public schools is completely foreclosed to these children who cannot comprehend any of it" and that the decision paralleled similar arguments that were determined to be unconstitutional in ''
Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the ...
''. Subsequently, the U. S. Supreme Court agreed with Hufstedler and overturned the Ninth Circuit's decision. Hufstedler authored the majority opinion in ''Dietemann v. Time, Inc.'' (1971) Reporters employed by ''Life'' magazine would deceive their way into private homes and then record information and interactions between individuals in the home. Hufstedler affirmed the lower court's decision that such actions were an invasion of privacy. This helped provide clarity on freedom of the press and specifically, the limitations that the
First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...
has on protecting the freedom of the press. Hufstedler was in the majority for '' Warren Jones Co. v. Commissioner'' (1975). In this case, the majority decided that real estate had a certain fair market value which was determinable. Thus, taxpayers were required to include that fair market value in tax return calculations.


Secretary of Education

Hufstedler joined the
Carter administration Jimmy Carter's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 39th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Jimmy Carter, his inauguration on January 20, 1977, and ended on January 20, 1981. Carter, a Democratic Party ...
when appointed to be the first U.S. Secretary of Education in 1979. As the first Secretary of Education, Hufstedler's agenda has been depicted as being focused on strengthening state and federal interrelationships, as well as educational equity. Her dedication toward educational needs helped set precedent in the importance of its existence, even later preventing President Ronald Reagan's attempts to dismantle it all together after he beat President Carter in 1980.


Later career

Hufstedler was considered to be a candidate for the Supreme Court if a vacancy had occurred under the Jimmy Carter presidency. In 1981, Hufstedler returned to private life, teaching and practicing law. She was a partner in the firm Hufstedler & Kaus, now merged into
Morrison & Foerster Morrison & Foerster LLP (also known as MoFo) is an American multinational law firm headquartered in San Francisco, California, with 17 offices located throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe. History In 1883, Alexander Francis Morrison ...
. She taught across the country, including stints at the University of California at Irvine and Santa Cruz, the University of Iowa, the University of Vermont, Stanford Law School, and the University of Oregon.


Personal life

Hufstedler met her husband, Seth Hufstedler, at law school and they married in 1949. They had one child, Dr. Steve Hufstedler, and four grandchildren. Hufstedler appears in the 2009 film biography of pioneering aviator and hostess
Pancho Barnes Florence Lowe "Pancho" Barnes (July 22, 1901 – March 30, 1975) was a pioneer aviator and a founder of the first movie stunt pilots' union. In 1930, she broke Amelia Earhart's air speed record. Barnes raced in the Women's Air Derby and was a m ...
, '' The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club'', billed as "Pancho's legal advisor." On March 30, 2016, Hufstedler died in Glendale, California, from
cerebrovascular disease Cerebrovascular disease includes a variety of medical conditions that affect the blood vessels of the brain and the cerebral circulation. Arteries supplying oxygen and nutrients to the brain are often damaged or deformed in these disorders. Th ...
at the age of 90. She is interred in the
Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a privately owned cemetery in Glendale, California, United States. It is the original and current flagship location of Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries, a chain of six cemeteries and four additional mortuaries ...
.


Awards and honors

Hufstedler served on boards of trustees, governing boards and visiting committees for numerous foundations, institutions, corporations and universities as follows:


Honorary doctorate degrees

She was the recipient of almost 20 honorary doctoral degrees from American universities. They include: *The Claremont University Center. *Columbia University. *Georgetown University. *Gonzaga University. *Hood College. *Mount Holyoke College. *University of Michigan. *University of New Mexico. *Occidental College. *University of the Pacific. *University of Pennsylvania. *Rutgers University. *University of Southern California. *Smith College. *Syracuse University. *Tufts University. *Tulane University. *University of Wyoming. *Yale University.


Awards

Her awards include: *The Order of the Coif. *The Marshall-Wythe Medal (College of William and Mary). *St. Thomas More Medal (Loyola Law School). *Golden Plate Award
American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a nonprofit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest-achieving people in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet one ano ...
. *Woman of the Year Award (Los Angeles Times). *Woman of the Year Award (Ladies Home Journal). *University of California at Los Angeles Medal. *Herbert O. Harley Award (American Judicature Society). *Earl Warren Medal (University of Judaism). *Louis D. Brandeis Medal (University of Louisville). *Shattuck-Price Memorial Award (Los Angeles County Bar Association). *Stanford Law School Award of Merit. *American Bar Association's 1995 Gold Medal. *Margaret Brent Award (ABA Commission on Women in the Legal Profession). *The Learned Hand Award. *She was the first woman to receive the American Bar Association medal.


Memberships and affiliations

*Hufstedler was the first woman on the Council of the American Law Institute. *She was on the Board of Directors of Harman International Industries. *She was the emeritus director of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Salzburg Seminar. *She was a trustee of the California Institute of Technology. *She was an active member of the following: American Bar Association, American Law Institute, American Judicature Society, Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Pacific Council, International Association of Women Lawyers, Institute for Judicial Administration, Los Angeles Bar Association, National Association of Women Lawyers, State Bar of California, Town Hall, Federal Bar Association and Women Lawyers Association. *At some point, Hufstedler had also previously served on the following: Board of Trustees of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the
Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...
at Princeton, the Institute for Judicial Administration, Natural Resources Defense Council, Council of the American Law Institute, and the governing boards of the United States Military Academy, Institute for Civil Justice, Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, the University of Pennsylvania Law School, the University of Southern California Law Center, the Institute for Court Management, the Constitutional Rights Foundation, the Advisory Council for Appellate Justice, American Judicature Society, Center for National Policy and Occidental College. *She guest lectured in ten foreign countries: the UK, France, Bulgaria, Israel, Jordan, Iran, India, Nepal, Malaysia, and Sweden. *She was a delegate to the Nuclear Arms Control with Erwin Griswald from the Lawyers Alliance. At such time, she was also involved in negotiations with the Soviet Union, which lasted for almost a decade.


Legacy

In 2021, the Board of Trustees of the
California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...
voted to remove
Robert Andrews Millikan Robert Andrews Millikan ( ; March 22, 1868 – December 19, 1953) was an American physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1923 "for his work on the elementary charge of electricity and on the photoelectric effect". Millikan gradua ...
's name from everything that was named in his honor on the Caltech campus due to Millikan's involvement with the Human Betterment Foundation and the eugenics movement. The Board decided that the former Robert A. Millikan Professorship should now be known as the .


See also

* Jimmy Carter Supreme Court candidates *
List of female United States Cabinet members The Cabinet of the United States, which is the principal advisory body to the President of the United States, has had 72 female members altogether, with eight of them serving in multiple positions for a total of 80 cabinet appointments. Of ...
* List of first women lawyers and judges in California


References


Sources

*


External links

*
''Oral History of Shirley M. Hufstedler''
series of interviews with Hufstedler conducted from 2005 to 2008, sponsored by the American Bar Association

''People'' article published April 28, 1980 * * * (alt) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hufstedler, Shirley 1925 births 2016 deaths 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women lawyers 20th-century American women politicians 20th-century American women judges California Institute of Technology trustees 20th-century California state court judges Carter administration cabinet members Judges of the California Courts of Appeal Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Lawyers from Denver Stanford Law School alumni Superior court judges in the United States United States court of appeals judges appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson United States secretaries of education University of New Mexico alumni Women members of the Cabinet of the United States Neurological disease deaths in California People associated with Morrison & Foerster