Albert Levitt
Encyclopedia
Albert Levitt was a judge, law professor, attorney, and candidate for political office. While he was a memorable teacher at Washington and Lee University
, and as judge of the United States District Court for the Virgin Islands ordered that woman voters must be registered, he later came to hold eccentric views on religion.
Levitt was born in Maryland; at the age of 17 he joined the Army and served seven years, rising to the rank of sergeant. He then went to seminary and obtained a degree. After World War I
broke out, he twice served, once in the ambulance corps for the French and back in the U.S. Army once the United States joined the war.
After the war, he returned to school, obtaining two legal degrees, and joined the Bar. He had a number of teaching positions at various universities, and served briefly as a Federal judge in the Virgin Islands. While there, he issued decrees forcing reluctant local election officials to allow women to vote.
Levitt published a number of books on religion, and ran for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in California in 1950. He finished sixth out of six behind the winner, Richard Nixon
, three cross-filing
Democrats, and another fringe candidate who would be convicted of bigamy the following year. He died in 1968.
. At the age of seventeen, he joined the United States Army
and serves seven years, rising to the rank of sergeant. After leaving the Army, he attended Meadville Theological School, which was run by the Unitarians, and received his Bachelor of Divinity in 1911. In 1913, he received a B.A. from Columbia University
.
Levitt served as a lecturer at Columbia after his graduation, but in 1915 crossed the Atlantic and joined the American Ambulance Corps in the French Army in 1915. He returned to the United States, where he spent a year teaching philosophy at Colgate University
. When the United States joined the war in 1917, he joined the army again and served from 1917 to 1919 as a chaplain. During his time on the Western Front, he was both wounded and gassed.
as his mentor, and, in part due to his romantic relationship to women's activist Elsie Mary Hill, became affiliated with the National Woman's Party
. Women's rights leader Alice Paul
consulted both Pound and Levitt in seeking to draft what became known as the Equal Rights Amendment
(ERA), to give equality to women without eroding special protections. Dean Pound was willing to help, so long as his involvement was not publicized. Levitt, seeking to avoid conflict with existing laws protecting women, drafted at least 75 versions of the ERA for Paul. He also consulted with future Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter
, who was then counsel to the Washington, D.C. Minimum Wage Board, who commented on various drafts, feeling that any version of the ERA would have the side effect of eviscerating current legal protections for women. Levitt attempted to change Frankfurter's mind, but was unsuccessful. He wrote to Paul, "The net result of the interview is nothing."
Although both Pound and Frankfurter had given Levitt advice on condition that their names not be used, NWP activists falsely claimed that they had approved the text of the ERA as suitable for either legislation or constitutional amendment. Levitt apologized to both, and wrote Paul that he could not now consult anyone he trusted about the ERA for fear of being betrayed again. Nevertheless, influenced by Hill, he continued his work for Paul until the end of 1921. On December 24, 1921, by now working at the University of North Dakota
, he married Hill in Chicago.
and the University of North Dakota before returning to school himself at Yale University
, receiving his J.D. in 1923. From 1923 to 1924, he served as a Special Assistant Attorney General.
In 1924, he was hired as assistant professor of law at Washington and Lee University
. He made a deep impression there as, according to the school's web site, "likely the most unusual, colorful, and, some would contend, eccentric law teacher in the history of Washington and Lee" but also as a "teacher of great ability". His wife retained her maiden name and their daughter was known by the surname "Hill-Levitt", unconventional for the conservative southern town of Lexington, Virginia
. Levitt also was involved in conflict with the law school dean, and when his contract expired in 1927, it was not renewed.
Levitt next taught law at St. Lawrence University
and followed that up with a stint at the New York University School of Commerce
and changed coasts to teach at the Hastings School of Law.
From 1933 to 1935, Levitt again served as a special assistant attorney general. In 1935, Levitt was appointed as judge of the District Court for the Virgin Islands. He stated in an interview that he did not intend to be a public spectacle, but to live a lonely life. Levitt was interviewed by the local paper, which indicated that he brought a dog and a special supply of tropical dog food for him to assuage the loneliness. He was sworn in on October 17. He also brought Elsie Hill, who busied herself with local women's affairs and was outraged to learn that under Danish Colonial Law, still mostly in force in the Virgin Islands, local women could not vote. According to one local woman, Hill told women activists that if they brought suit, her husband would uphold the right of women to vote in the possession. Hill obtained a prominent New York attorney to represent the islanders without fee, and in November, Judge Levitt ruled the disenfranchisement unconstitutional under the Nineteenth Amendment. The local electoral board still refused to register women, and the following month, Judge Levitt issued a writ of mandamus
, forcing the board to comply.
In 1936, Judge Levitt, in response to the Governor's pardon (which included a lengthy harangue against the judge) of a convict he had sentenced, resigned from his post. and returned to his position at the Justice Department, where he remained until 1937.
In 1937, Levitt filed a petition in the Supreme Court of the United States
, seeking to block the seating of new appointee, Senator Hugo Black
. Levitt argued that as Black's predecessor on the Court, Justice Willis Van Devanter
had only retired, and not resigned (a new law had permitted retirement), there was no vacancy, and as that the retirement law had increased the emoluments of the office, Black was ineligible under the Incompatibility Clause of the Consititution. In the decision, Ex parte Levitt
, the Court found that Levitt's standing, as a citizen and member of the Supreme Court Bar, was not sufficient to allow him to challenge the seating of Black. When he heard of the decision, Levitt quoted from the Book of Job
: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him; but I will maintain my own ways before Him."
. He ran in California in 1950
, on an anti-Catholic platform. He finished sixth out of sixth in the primary, behind the winner, Congressman Richard Nixon, three cross-filing
Democrats, and another fringe candidate. In 1960, Levitt, running unsuccessfully for the Senate from New Hampshire, telegrammed Pope John XXIII
and asked him to clarify whether Senator John F. Kennedy
, a Catholic who was seeking the Democratic nomination for President, owed political allegiance to the Vatican or to the United States. According to Levitt, some 150 principles of the Roman Catholic Church
conflicted with the Constitution. There is no record of any reply by the Pope.
Levitt divorced Elsie Hill in 1956, and later remarried. He died in 1968.
Washington and Lee University
Washington and Lee University is a private liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States.The classical school from which Washington and Lee descended was established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, about north of its present location. In 1776 it was renamed Liberty Hall in a burst of...
, and as judge of the United States District Court for the Virgin Islands ordered that woman voters must be registered, he later came to hold eccentric views on religion.
Levitt was born in Maryland; at the age of 17 he joined the Army and served seven years, rising to the rank of sergeant. He then went to seminary and obtained a degree. After World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
broke out, he twice served, once in the ambulance corps for the French and back in the U.S. Army once the United States joined the war.
After the war, he returned to school, obtaining two legal degrees, and joined the Bar. He had a number of teaching positions at various universities, and served briefly as a Federal judge in the Virgin Islands. While there, he issued decrees forcing reluctant local election officials to allow women to vote.
Levitt published a number of books on religion, and ran for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in California in 1950. He finished sixth out of six behind the winner, Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
, three cross-filing
Cross-filing
In American politics, cross-filing occurs when a candidate runs in the primary election of not only his own party, but also that of one or more other parties, generally in the hope of reducing or eliminating his competition at the general election...
Democrats, and another fringe candidate who would be convicted of bigamy the following year. He died in 1968.
Early life
Levitt was born on March 14, 1887, in Woodbine, MarylandWoodbine, Maryland
Woodbine is located in Howard and Carroll counties, in the Baltimore, Maryland, metropolitan area. The community was named for the plant, which grew in this town in fields and along riverbanks.-Background:...
. At the age of seventeen, he joined the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
and serves seven years, rising to the rank of sergeant. After leaving the Army, he attended Meadville Theological School, which was run by the Unitarians, and received his Bachelor of Divinity in 1911. In 1913, he received a B.A. from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
Levitt served as a lecturer at Columbia after his graduation, but in 1915 crossed the Atlantic and joined the American Ambulance Corps in the French Army in 1915. He returned to the United States, where he spent a year teaching philosophy at Colgate University
Colgate University
Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York, USA. The school was founded in 1819 as a Baptist seminary and later became non-denominational. It is named for the Colgate family who greatly contributed to the university's endowment in the 19th century.Colgate has 52...
. When the United States joined the war in 1917, he joined the army again and served from 1917 to 1919 as a chaplain. During his time on the Western Front, he was both wounded and gassed.
Harvard and the ERA
Levitt had spent a brief period at Harvard as an ROTC instructor; he returned there as a law student in 1919 and received his LL.B. the following year. While at Harvard, he came to view Dean Roscoe PoundRoscoe Pound
Nathan Roscoe Pound was a distinguished American legal scholar and educator. He was Dean of Harvard Law School from 1916 to 1936...
as his mentor, and, in part due to his romantic relationship to women's activist Elsie Mary Hill, became affiliated with the National Woman's Party
National Woman's Party
The National Woman's Party , was a women's organization founded by Alice Paul in 1915 that fought for women's rights during the early 20th century in the United States, particularly for the right to vote on the same terms as men...
. Women's rights leader Alice Paul
Alice Paul
Alice Stokes Paul was an American suffragist and activist. Along with Lucy Burns and others, she led a successful campaign for women's suffrage that resulted in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920.-Activism: Alice Paul received her undergraduate education from...
consulted both Pound and Levitt in seeking to draft what became known as the Equal Rights Amendment
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and, in 1923, it was introduced in the Congress for the first time...
(ERA), to give equality to women without eroding special protections. Dean Pound was willing to help, so long as his involvement was not publicized. Levitt, seeking to avoid conflict with existing laws protecting women, drafted at least 75 versions of the ERA for Paul. He also consulted with future Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurter was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.-Early life:Frankfurter was born into a Jewish family on November 15, 1882, in Vienna, Austria, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Europe. He was the third of six children of Leopold and Emma Frankfurter...
, who was then counsel to the Washington, D.C. Minimum Wage Board, who commented on various drafts, feeling that any version of the ERA would have the side effect of eviscerating current legal protections for women. Levitt attempted to change Frankfurter's mind, but was unsuccessful. He wrote to Paul, "The net result of the interview is nothing."
Although both Pound and Frankfurter had given Levitt advice on condition that their names not be used, NWP activists falsely claimed that they had approved the text of the ERA as suitable for either legislation or constitutional amendment. Levitt apologized to both, and wrote Paul that he could not now consult anyone he trusted about the ERA for fear of being betrayed again. Nevertheless, influenced by Hill, he continued his work for Paul until the end of 1921. On December 24, 1921, by now working at the University of North Dakota
University of North Dakota
The University of North Dakota is a public university in Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA. Established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of North Dakota, UND is the oldest and largest university in the state and enrolls over 14,000 students. ...
, he married Hill in Chicago.
Legal and teaching career
He served one year teaching assignments in law at George Washington UniversityGeorge Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
and the University of North Dakota before returning to school himself at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, receiving his J.D. in 1923. From 1923 to 1924, he served as a Special Assistant Attorney General.
In 1924, he was hired as assistant professor of law at Washington and Lee University
Washington and Lee University
Washington and Lee University is a private liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States.The classical school from which Washington and Lee descended was established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, about north of its present location. In 1776 it was renamed Liberty Hall in a burst of...
. He made a deep impression there as, according to the school's web site, "likely the most unusual, colorful, and, some would contend, eccentric law teacher in the history of Washington and Lee" but also as a "teacher of great ability". His wife retained her maiden name and their daughter was known by the surname "Hill-Levitt", unconventional for the conservative southern town of Lexington, Virginia
Lexington, Virginia
Lexington is an independent city within the confines of Rockbridge County in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 7,042 in 2010. Lexington is about 55 minutes east of the West Virginia border and is about 50 miles north of Roanoke, Virginia. It was first settled in 1777.It is home to...
. Levitt also was involved in conflict with the law school dean, and when his contract expired in 1927, it was not renewed.
Levitt next taught law at St. Lawrence University
St. Lawrence University
St. Lawrence University is a four-year liberal arts college located in the village of Canton in Saint Lawrence County, New York, United States. It has roughly 2300 undergraduate and 100 graduate students, about equally split between male and female....
and followed that up with a stint at the New York University School of Commerce
New York University Stern School of Business
The Leonard N. Stern School of Business is New York University's business school. It was established in 1900 as the NYU School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance. In 1988 it was named after Leonard N. Stern, an alumnus and benefactor of the school...
and changed coasts to teach at the Hastings School of Law.
Governmental, political, and judicial career
Levitt was for many years a resident of Connecticut and involved himself in affairs there, getting the Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut to order the state's attorney general to take action against railroads for failure to eliminate at-grade crossings as required by law. Levitt ran in 1932 for Governor of Connecticut as an Independent Republican, but failed to receive the nomination.From 1933 to 1935, Levitt again served as a special assistant attorney general. In 1935, Levitt was appointed as judge of the District Court for the Virgin Islands. He stated in an interview that he did not intend to be a public spectacle, but to live a lonely life. Levitt was interviewed by the local paper, which indicated that he brought a dog and a special supply of tropical dog food for him to assuage the loneliness. He was sworn in on October 17. He also brought Elsie Hill, who busied herself with local women's affairs and was outraged to learn that under Danish Colonial Law, still mostly in force in the Virgin Islands, local women could not vote. According to one local woman, Hill told women activists that if they brought suit, her husband would uphold the right of women to vote in the possession. Hill obtained a prominent New York attorney to represent the islanders without fee, and in November, Judge Levitt ruled the disenfranchisement unconstitutional under the Nineteenth Amendment. The local electoral board still refused to register women, and the following month, Judge Levitt issued a writ of mandamus
Mandamus
A writ of mandamus or mandamus , or sometimes mandate, is the name of one of the prerogative writs in the common law, and is "issued by a superior court to compel a lower court or a government officer to perform mandatory or purely ministerial duties correctly".Mandamus is a judicial remedy which...
, forcing the board to comply.
In 1936, Judge Levitt, in response to the Governor's pardon (which included a lengthy harangue against the judge) of a convict he had sentenced, resigned from his post. and returned to his position at the Justice Department, where he remained until 1937.
In 1937, Levitt filed a petition in the Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
, seeking to block the seating of new appointee, Senator Hugo Black
Hugo Black
Hugo Lafayette Black was an American politician and jurist. A member of the Democratic Party, Black represented Alabama in the United States Senate from 1927 to 1937, and served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1937 to 1971. Black was nominated to the Supreme...
. Levitt argued that as Black's predecessor on the Court, Justice Willis Van Devanter
Willis Van Devanter
Willis Van Devanter was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, January 3, 1911 to June 2, 1937.- Early life and career :...
had only retired, and not resigned (a new law had permitted retirement), there was no vacancy, and as that the retirement law had increased the emoluments of the office, Black was ineligible under the Incompatibility Clause of the Consititution. In the decision, Ex parte Levitt
Ex parte Levitt
Ex parte Levitt, 302 U.S. 633 , was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States.In August 1937, President President Franklin D. Roosevelt nominated Senator Hugo Black to the Supreme Court...
, the Court found that Levitt's standing, as a citizen and member of the Supreme Court Bar, was not sufficient to allow him to challenge the seating of Black. When he heard of the decision, Levitt quoted from the Book of Job
Book of Job
The Book of Job , commonly referred to simply as Job, is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible. It relates the story of Job, his trials at the hands of Satan, his discussions with friends on the origins and nature of his suffering, his challenge to God, and finally a response from God. The book is a...
: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him; but I will maintain my own ways before Him."
Later life
Levitt ran twice for the Republican nomination for the United States SenateUnited States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
. He ran in California in 1950
United States Senate election in California, 1950
The 1950 United States Senate election in California followed a campaign characterized by accusations and name-calling. Republican Richard Nixon defeated Democrat Helen Gahagan Douglas, after Democratic incumbent Sheridan Downey withdrew during the primary election campaign...
, on an anti-Catholic platform. He finished sixth out of sixth in the primary, behind the winner, Congressman Richard Nixon, three cross-filing
Cross-filing
In American politics, cross-filing occurs when a candidate runs in the primary election of not only his own party, but also that of one or more other parties, generally in the hope of reducing or eliminating his competition at the general election...
Democrats, and another fringe candidate. In 1960, Levitt, running unsuccessfully for the Senate from New Hampshire, telegrammed Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII
-Papal election:Following the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, Roncalli was elected Pope, to his great surprise. He had even arrived in the Vatican with a return train ticket to Venice. Many had considered Giovanni Battista Montini, Archbishop of Milan, a possible candidate, but, although archbishop...
and asked him to clarify whether Senator John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, a Catholic who was seeking the Democratic nomination for President, owed political allegiance to the Vatican or to the United States. According to Levitt, some 150 principles of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
conflicted with the Constitution. There is no record of any reply by the Pope.
Levitt divorced Elsie Hill in 1956, and later remarried. He died in 1968.