James A. Redden

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James A. Redden

James Anthony "Jim" Redden junior (born March 13, 1929 in Springfield , Massachusetts , † March 31, 2020 ) was an American lawyer and politician ( Democratic Party ).

Private life

James Anthony "Jim" Redden Jr., the third child of Alma and James Anthony Redden, Sr., a dentist, was born in Hampden County during the Great Depression . He grew up on Bronson Terrace on the eastern edge of Forest Park, where his father also ran a dental practice for a while.

Because of a "mediocre" college career, as he later stated, he enlisted in the US Army in 1946 . The Second World War had ended shortly before. He served as Private First Class in occupied Japan for two years . During this time he worked as a medic and experienced the consequences of the atomic bomb drop on Hiroshima first hand.

After his release from active service, he married his childhood sweetheart Joan Johnson in 1951. He went to several underpaid jobs. He worked for The Gillette Company , where he was responsible for coded overview sheets. He also managed to get a late high school diploma. He also went to Boston College and its School of Law, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1954 . He was admitted to the Massachusetts bar that same year.

After he ran his own law practice, only one year in Massachusetts, the young attorney in 1955 moved with his wife and young sons, Jim and Bill, to Portland ( Oregon ). There he passed his state examination and was admitted to the bar. In the following years he worked for a title insurance company - a position he only held for one year. He then worked as a claims adjuster at Allstate Insurance Company . Dissatisfied with his position and a growing passion for the law, as he later stated, he decided to pursue a legal career at the court.

Redden and his family lived in Medford, Oregon for the next 17 years , where he practiced law. During this time his interest in politics increased. In the Democratic Party, he was soon one of the rising stars.

He and his wife later lived in Beaverton, Oregon. Her son Jim is a reporter for the Portland Tribune and her son Bill is a public defender.

Political career

To do a favor to a friend who was looking for a challenger to the incumbent Republican Congressman in the 19th District, he ran in 1962 as a candidate for the Oregon House of Representatives . It was his first political campaign. Redden won the election and subsequent re-elections. He sat in the House of Representatives for the next six years. He became a minority leader in his party in 1967 .

In 1969 he moved to the executive branch and became chairman of the Public Employee Relations Board - a position he held until 1972. From 1973 to 1976 he was Treasurer of State of Oregon and from 1977 to 1980 Attorney General of Oregon.

Legal career

President Jimmy Carter nominated him on December 3, 1979 for the new judge's post at the United States District Court for the District of Oregon , which by the 92 Stat. 1629 was created. The US Senate confirmed his nomination and he received his commission on February 20, 1980. From 1990 to 1995 he held the post of Chief Judge. On March 13, 1995, he reached senior status . He remained active as a senior judge.

Many of the cases he tried as a federal judge gained national attention. In this context , mention should be made of his rejection of the charges against the leader of the American Indian Movement , Dennis Banks .

Since 2003, Redden has played the central figure in the dispute between industry and environmental concerns over the hydropower plants on the Columbia River . He rejected two management plans of the federal government from 2005 and 2006. As a justification, he cited deficiencies in the protection of various salmon species, as required by the Endangered Species Act . The plans were to reduce the overflow currents on the Columbia and Snake Rivers , which environmentalists and Indian tribes sharply criticized for the devastating effects on salmon migrations. Redden therefore suggested that if the George W. Bush administration did not take adequate safeguards against the various salmon populations, the management of the hydroelectric plants would come under the control of the courts . In November 2011, he announced that he would withdraw from the case before a new plan would be presented by the federal government in 2014.

Honors

The Federal Courthouse in Medford, where he practiced for 17 years, was renamed in his honor by a law of Congress .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ James A. Redden, longtime Oregon politician and judge, passes away at 91 , pamplinmedia.com, April 1, 2020, accessed April 3, 2020
  2. ↑ United States of America, Bureau of the Census: Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930, T626, Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts; Roll 911; P. 5A; ED 83; Image 191.0.
  3. ↑ a b Painter, John junior: 3 judges take overdue break to note decade together on federal bench, The Oregonian, April 7, 1990, p. B4
  4. ↑ a b James Anthony Redden , Marquis Who's WhoTM, Marquis Who's Who, 2006, Reproduced in Biography Resource Center, Farmington Hills, Michigan: Thomson Gale, 2006
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Rojas-Burke, Joe: James A. Redden: An amiable Judge, A hard line on salmon, The Oregonian, July 11, 2005, p. A1
  6. ^ A b Barnard, Jeff: Judge: Follow the Law, Save the Salmon, The Columbian ((UPI) Vancouver, WA: Columbian Publishing Co.), February 19, 2006, p. A1
  7. ^ Van Meter, Heather: Judges Helen Frye, Owen Panner and James Redden (PDF document), Oregon Benchmarks (The US District Court of Oregon Historical Society), Fall 2005
  8. ^ Treasurers of Oregon , Oregon Blue Book
  9. ^ Attorney General of Oregon , Oregon Blue Book
  10. ^ Dismissal of charge against Indian leader upheld, New York Times (UPI), September 2, 1984, p. A28
  11. ↑ Milstein, Michael: US offers new fish tactics for Columbia basin, The Oregonian, November 25, 2005, p. B1
  12. ↑ Harden, Blaine: Bush Policy Irks Judges in West; Rulings Criticize Agencies for Not Protecting the Environment, Washington Post, November 25, 2005, p. A1
  13. ↑ Milstein, Michael: Judge rips latest plan to help salmon, The Oregonian, December 11, 2007
  14. ↑ Learn, Scott: Judge James Redden to step down after a decade on the Northwest's biggest salmon lawsuit , The Oregonian, November 23, 2011
  15. ↑ First Introduced as S.1875 and enacted as amendment to Pub.L. 104-208
personal data
SURNAME Redden, James A.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Redden, James Anthony Jr. (full name); Redden, Jim (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American lawyer and politician (Democratic Party)
DATE OF BIRTH March 13, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Springfield , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH March 31, 2020