Walter Maximilian Bastian

Walter Maximilian Bastian (born November 16, 1891 in Washington, DC , †  March 12, 1975 ) was an American lawyer . After his first appointment by President Harry S. Truman , he served as a federal judge from 1950 . First he was a member of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, then from 1922 the Federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia District Court.

Career

After attending school, Walter Bastian graduated from the School of Law at Georgetown University , where he obtained a Bachelor of Laws in 1913 . He then began to work as a lawyer in the federal capital. He ran his practice until 1950, interrupted by his deployment in the US Army in the final phase of the First World War . In a chemical weapons unit, he achieved the rank of first lieutenant . After retiring from the military, he took up a position as a lecturer at the National University School of Law , which he pursued until 1948.

On October 23, Bastian was appointed Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia by President Truman to succeed Thomas Jennings Bailey . Since the congress was in the break, a recess appointment was used. The formal nomination was made on November 27 of the same year, whereupon the United States Senate confirmed Bastian's appointment on December 14, and he could officially take office eight days later. On December 3, 1954, he officially moved - this time on appeal by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on November 8 of that year - to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit . This was preceded by a Recess Appointment on September 20, 1954. Here Bastian took over the seat of the late Bennett Champ Clark . A first nomination on August 19 of the same year had passed without a Senate vote.

Walter Bastian switched to senior status on March 16, 1965 and thus effectively retired. His seat fell to Edward Allen Tamm . He died almost exactly ten years later and was buried in Washington, DC.

Web links

• Walter Maximilian Bastian in the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges
• Walter Maximilian Bastian at The Political Graveyard