Dallin H. Oaks
Encyclopedia
Dallin Harris Oaks is an American attorney, jurist, author, professor, public speaker, and religious leader. Since 1984, he has been a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He is a former professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School
, a former president of Brigham Young University
, and a former justice of the Utah Supreme Court
. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Oaks was considered by Republican
U.S. presidential administrations a top prospect for appointment to the United States Supreme Court. Currently, he is the fifth most senior apostle among the ranks of the LDS Church.
, Utah
to Stella Harris and Lloyd E. Oaks. His father, who was an ophthalmologist, died when Dallin was seven years old. Both of Oaks's parents were graduates of BYU. After Oaks's father died his mother pursued a graduate degree at Columbia University
and later served as head of adult education for the Provo School District
. Stella Harris Oaks also served two terms in the 1950s as a member of the Provo City Council.
Oaks graduated from Brigham Young High School
in 1950. While in high school he became a certified radio engineer. He met June Dixon after a high school basketball game he had served as the radio announcer at. This was when he was a student at BYU and she was a senior in high school. Due to his membership in the Utah National Guard
and the threat of being called up to serve in the Korean War
, Oaks was unable to serve as a missionary
for the LDS Church. In 1952 Oaks married June Dixon. He graduated from BYU with a degree in accounting in 1954.
Oaks then went on to the University of Chicago Law School
, where he served as editor-in-chief of the University of Chicago Law Review
. After graduating with a Juris Doctor
(J.D.) in 1957, Oaks clerked for Chief Justice Earl Warren
of the United States Supreme Court from 1957 to 1958. After his clerkship he practiced at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis
in Chicago. Oaks left Kirkland & Ellis to become a professor at the University of Chicago Law School in 1961. During part of his time on the faculty of the Law School, Oaks served as interim dean. He taught primarily in the fields of trust and estate law, as well as gift taxation law. He worked with George Bogert on a new edition of a casebook on trusts. In 1968 he became a founding member of the editorial board of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought
. One of the articles he wrote for this publication expressed his view that deliberate defiance of the law is never a worthwhile course of action in a democracy. He resigned from Dialogues editorial board in early 1970. In 1969 Oaks served served as chairman of the University of Chicago disciplinary committee. In conducting hearing against those who had been involved in a sit-in at the administration building Oaks was physically attacked twice. During the first half of 1970 Oaks took a leave of absence from the University of Chicago while serving as legal counsel to the Bill of Rights Committee of the Illinois Constitutional Convention, which caused him to work closely with the committee chair, Elmer Gertz
. Oaks left the University of Chicago Law School upon being appointed President at Brigham Young University in 1971.
Oaks would also serve five years as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Public Broadcasting Service
(PBS) (1979–1984) and eight years as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Polynesian Cultural Center
.
and the Graduate Business School. Although university enrollment continued to grow and new buildings were added, neither was done at the pace of the previous administration under Ernest L. Wilkinson
.
Upon leaving Brigham Young University, Oaks was appointed as a justice in the Utah Supreme Court
. He would serve in this capacity from 1980 to 1984, when he resigned to accept a call by the LDS Church to become a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
among potential Gerald Ford Supreme Court candidates
. In 1981, he was closely considered by the Ronald Reagan
administration as a Supreme Court nominee.
of the LDS Church, Oaks was sustained an apostle and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Oaks is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator
.
Although sustained on April 7, he was not ordained to office until May 3, 1984. After his name was submitted to the body of the church for a sustain vote, president Gordon B. Hinckley
of the First Presidency
made the following statement in regard to the delay:
Of the shift from judge to apostolic witness Oaks commented:
At age 51 he was the youngest apostle in the quorum at the time and the youngest man to be called to the quorum since Boyd K. Packer
, who was called in 1970 at age 45. By date of ordination, he is the fourth senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, preceded by Russell M. Nelson
, L. Tom Perry
, and quorum president
Boyd K. Packer.
Between 2002 and 2004, Oaks presided over the church area
in the Philippines
. This assignment was unusual because responsibility for presiding over areas of the LDS Church is generally delegated to members of the Quorums of the Seventy
.
On February 26, 2010, Oaks addressed students at the annual Mormonism 101 Series convened at Harvard Law School
.
, a linguistics professor at Brigham Young University
, and Jenny Oaks Baker
, a musician and artist. On August 25, 2000, Dallin H. Oaks married Kristen Meredith McMain in the Salt Lake Temple
. Kristen was in her early 50s and had served a mission for the LDS Church many years earlier in the Japan Sendai Mission. Kristen has bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Utah
and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Brigham Young University
.
and the exclusionary rule
. In California v. Minjares, Justice William Rehnquist, in a dissenting opinion, wrote "[t]he most comprehensive study on the exclusionary rule is probably that done by Dallin Oaks for the American Bar Foundation in 1970. According to this article, it is an open question whether the exclusionary rule deters the police from violating Fourth Amendment protections of individuals.
Oaks also undertook a legal analysis of the Nauvoo
City Council's actions against the Nauvoo Expositor
. He opined that while the destruction of the Expositor's printing press was legally questionable, under the law of the time the newspaper certainly could have been declared libelous and therefore a public nuisance by the Nauvoo City Council. As a result, Oaks concludes that while under contemporaneous law it would have been legally permissible for city officials to destroy, or "abate," the actual printed newspapers, the destruction of the printing press itself was probably outside of the council's legal authority, and its owners could have sued for damages.
As a Utah Supreme Court Justice from 1980 to 1984, Oaks authored opinions on a variety of topics. In In Re J. P., a proceeding was instituted on a petition of the Division of Family Services to terminate parental rights of natural mother. Oaks wrote that a parent has a fundamental right protected by the Constitution to sustain his relationship with his child but that a parent can nevertheless be deprived of parental rights upon a showing of unfitness, abandonment, and substantial neglect.
In KUTV, Inc. v. Conder, media representatives sought review by appeal and by a writ of prohibition of an order barring the media from using the words "Sugarhouse rapist" or disseminating any information on past convictions of defendant during the pendency of a criminal trial. Oaks, in the opinion delivered by the court, held that the order barring the media from using the words "Sugarhouse rapist" or disseminating any information on past convictions of defendant during the pendency of the criminal trial was invalid on the ground that it was not accompanied by the procedural formalities required for the issuance of such an order.
In Wells v. Children's Aid Soc. of Utah, an unwed minor father brought action through a guardian ad litem seeking custody of a newborn child that had been released to state adoption agency and subsequently to adoptive parents, after the father had failed to make timely filing of his acknowledgment of paternity as required by statute. Oaks, writing the opinion for the court, held that statute specifying procedure for terminating parental rights of unwed fathers was constitutional under due process clause of United States Constitution.
created the Dallin H. Oaks Society to "to increase awareness within the Law School community of the presence, beliefs, and concerns of law students who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," among other things.
University of Chicago Law School
The University of Chicago Law School was founded in 1902 as the graduate school of law at the University of Chicago and is among the most prestigious and selective law schools in the world. The U.S. News & World Report currently ranks it fifth among U.S...
, a former president of Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
, and a former justice of the Utah Supreme Court
Utah Supreme Court
The Utah Supreme Court is the supreme court of the state of Utah, USA. It has final authority of interpretation of the Utah Constitution. The Utah Supreme Court is composed of five members: a chief justice, an associate chief justice, and three justices. All justices are appointed by the governor...
. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Oaks was considered by Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
U.S. presidential administrations a top prospect for appointment to the United States Supreme Court. Currently, he is the fifth most senior apostle among the ranks of the LDS Church.
Biographical background
Oaks was born in ProvoProvo, Utah
Provo is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Utah, located about south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the county seat of Utah County and lies between the cities of Orem to the north and Springville to the south...
, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
to Stella Harris and Lloyd E. Oaks. His father, who was an ophthalmologist, died when Dallin was seven years old. Both of Oaks's parents were graduates of BYU. After Oaks's father died his mother pursued a graduate degree at 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...
and later served as head of adult education for the Provo School District
Provo School District
The Provo School District is a school district in Provo, Utah which has boundaries that coincide with those of the city. The school district is run by a school board elected by city residents. The districts for electing the school board members are drawn by the Provo City Council. There are...
. Stella Harris Oaks also served two terms in the 1950s as a member of the Provo City Council.
Oaks graduated from Brigham Young High School
Brigham Young High School
Brigham Young High School was a private high school in Provo, Utah, first known as Brigham Young Academy, later attached to Brigham Young University and operated under the Church Educational System of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints .- History :When Brigham Young Academy was...
in 1950. While in high school he became a certified radio engineer. He met June Dixon after a high school basketball game he had served as the radio announcer at. This was when he was a student at BYU and she was a senior in high school. Due to his membership in the Utah National Guard
Utah National Guard
The Utah National Guard consists of the:* Utah Army National Guard**19th Special Forces Group **85th WMD CST**97th Troop Command**115th Engineer Group **211th Aviation Group**300th MI Brigade **640th Regiment...
and the threat of being called up to serve in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, Oaks was unable to serve as a missionary
Mission (LDS Church)
A mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a geographical administrative area to which church missionaries are assigned. Almost all areas of the world are within the boundaries of an LDS Church mission, whether or not Mormon missionaries live or proselytize in the area...
for the LDS Church. In 1952 Oaks married June Dixon. He graduated from BYU with a degree in accounting in 1954.
Oaks then went on to the University of Chicago Law School
University of Chicago Law School
The University of Chicago Law School was founded in 1902 as the graduate school of law at the University of Chicago and is among the most prestigious and selective law schools in the world. The U.S. News & World Report currently ranks it fifth among U.S...
, where he served as editor-in-chief of the University of Chicago Law Review
University of Chicago Law Review
The University of Chicago Law Review is a law journal published by the University of Chicago Law School, and was established in 1933. From 1942 through 1945 the review was published by the faculty, due to World War II. Prominent former student members have included Judge Abner J...
. After graduating with a Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
(J.D.) in 1957, Oaks clerked for Chief Justice Earl Warren
Earl Warren
Earl Warren was the 14th Chief Justice of the United States.He is known for the sweeping decisions of the Warren Court, which ended school segregation and transformed many areas of American law, especially regarding the rights of the accused, ending public-school-sponsored prayer, and requiring...
of the United States Supreme Court from 1957 to 1958. After his clerkship he practiced at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis
Kirkland & Ellis
Kirkland & Ellis LLP is an international law firm with headquarters in Chicago, known for its profitability and its litigation, bankruptcy, intellectual property and private equity departments. Kirkland & Ellis is currently ranked as the ninth most prestigious law firm in the United States by...
in Chicago. Oaks left Kirkland & Ellis to become a professor at the University of Chicago Law School in 1961. During part of his time on the faculty of the Law School, Oaks served as interim dean. He taught primarily in the fields of trust and estate law, as well as gift taxation law. He worked with George Bogert on a new edition of a casebook on trusts. In 1968 he became a founding member of the editorial board of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought
Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought
Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought is an independent quarterly journal of "Mormon thought" that addresses a wide range of issues on Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint Movement....
. One of the articles he wrote for this publication expressed his view that deliberate defiance of the law is never a worthwhile course of action in a democracy. He resigned from Dialogues editorial board in early 1970. In 1969 Oaks served served as chairman of the University of Chicago disciplinary committee. In conducting hearing against those who had been involved in a sit-in at the administration building Oaks was physically attacked twice. During the first half of 1970 Oaks took a leave of absence from the University of Chicago while serving as legal counsel to the Bill of Rights Committee of the Illinois Constitutional Convention, which caused him to work closely with the committee chair, Elmer Gertz
Elmer Gertz
Elmer Gertz was an American lawyer, writer and civil rights activist. During his lengthy legal career he won some high-profile cases, most notably parole for notorious killer Nathan Leopold and the obscenity trial of Henry Miller's novel Tropic of Cancer...
. Oaks left the University of Chicago Law School upon being appointed President at Brigham Young University in 1971.
Oaks would also serve five years as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Public Broadcasting Service
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
(PBS) (1979–1984) and eight years as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Polynesian Cultural Center
Polynesian Cultural Center
The Polynesian Cultural Center is a Polynesian-themed theme park or living museum located in Laie, on the northern shore of Oahu, Hawaii. Dedicated on October 12, 1963, the PCC occupies owned by nearby Brigham Young University–Hawaii....
.
President of Brigham Young University
Oaks served as president of Brigham Young University from 1971–1980. As president of Brigham Young University, Oaks oversaw the start of the J. Reuben Clark Law SchoolJ. Reuben Clark Law School
The J. Reuben Clark Law School is a professional graduate school located in Provo, Utah at Brigham Young University. Founded in 1973, the school is named after J. Reuben Clark, Jr.—former U.S. Ambassador, Undersecretary of State, and LDS Church General Authority—and its charter dean was former...
and the Graduate Business School. Although university enrollment continued to grow and new buildings were added, neither was done at the pace of the previous administration under Ernest L. Wilkinson
Ernest L. Wilkinson
Ernest Leroy Wilkinson was an American academic administrator and prominent figure in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . He was president of Brigham Young University from 1951 to 1971 and also oversaw the entire LDS Church Educational System. Prior to this, Wilkinson was a lawyer...
.
Upon leaving Brigham Young University, Oaks was appointed as a justice in the Utah Supreme Court
Utah Supreme Court
The Utah Supreme Court is the supreme court of the state of Utah, USA. It has final authority of interpretation of the Utah Constitution. The Utah Supreme Court is composed of five members: a chief justice, an associate chief justice, and three justices. All justices are appointed by the governor...
. He would serve in this capacity from 1980 to 1984, when he resigned to accept a call by the LDS Church to become a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Considered as Supreme Court nominee
In 1976, Oaks was listed by U.S. attorney general Edward H. LeviEdward H. Levi
Edward Hirsch Levi was an American academic leader, scholar, and statesman who served as United States Attorney General. He is regularly cited as the "model of a modern attorney general," the "greatest lawyer of his time," and considered, along with Yale's Whitney Griswold, the greatest of...
among potential Gerald Ford Supreme Court candidates
Gerald Ford Supreme Court candidates
During his time in office, President Gerald Ford made one appointment to the Supreme Court of the United States. Ford nominated John Paul Stevens to replace Associate Justice William O...
. In 1981, he was closely considered by the Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
administration as a Supreme Court nominee.
LDS Church apostle
On April 7, 1984, during the Saturday morning session of the annual worldwide General ConferenceGeneral Conference (LDS Church)
General Conference is a semiannual world conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held in April and October, where members gather in a series of two-hour sessions to listen to instruction from Church leaders...
of the LDS Church, Oaks was sustained an apostle and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Oaks is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator
Prophet, seer, and revelator
Prophet, seer, and revelator is an ecclesiastical title used in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that is currently applied to the members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles...
.
Although sustained on April 7, he was not ordained to office until May 3, 1984. After his name was submitted to the body of the church for a sustain vote, president Gordon B. Hinckley
Gordon B. Hinckley
Gordon Bitner Hinckley was an American religious leader and author who served as the 15th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from March 12, 1995 until his death...
of the First Presidency
First Presidency (LDS Church)
The First Presidency is the presiding or governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . It is composed of the President of the Church and his counselors. The First Presidency currently consists of President Thomas S. Monson and his two counselors, Henry B...
made the following statement in regard to the delay:
"With reference to Dallin Oaks, I should like to say that while we nominate and sustain him today, he will not be ordained to the apostleship, nor will he be set apart as a member of the Council of the Twelve, nor will he begin his apostolic service, until after he completes his present judicial commitments, which may require several weeks. He is absent from the city, and necessarily absent from the conference. We excuse him."
Of the shift from judge to apostolic witness Oaks commented:
“Many years ago, Thomas Jefferson coined the metaphor, ‘the wall between church and state.’ I have heard the summons from the other side of the wall. I’m busy making the transition from one side of the wall to the other.”
At age 51 he was the youngest apostle in the quorum at the time and the youngest man to be called to the quorum since Boyd K. Packer
Boyd K. Packer
Boyd Kenneth Packer is an American educator and religious leader, and the current president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . He served as Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve from 1994 to 2008, and has been an apostle and member of...
, who was called in 1970 at age 45. By date of ordination, he is the fourth senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, preceded by Russell M. Nelson
Russell M. Nelson
Russell Marion Nelson is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and an internationally renowned cardiothoracic surgeon.-Medical career:...
, L. Tom Perry
L. Tom Perry
Lowell Tom Perry is a senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , having become a member of that body in 1974...
, and quorum president
President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is a priesthood calling in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . In general, the President of the Quorum of the Twelve is the most senior Apostle in the church, aside from the President of the Church...
Boyd K. Packer.
Between 2002 and 2004, Oaks presided over the church area
Area (LDS Church)
An area is an administrative unit of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which typically is composed of multiple stakes and missions...
in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. This assignment was unusual because responsibility for presiding over areas of the LDS Church is generally delegated to members of the Quorums of the Seventy
Quorums of the Seventy
Seventy is a priesthood office in the Melchizedek priesthood of several denominations within the Latter Day Saint movement, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
.
On February 26, 2010, Oaks addressed students at the annual Mormonism 101 Series convened at Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
.
Family
Oaks was married to June Dixon Oaks on June 24, 1952. She died on July 21, 1998. They have six children. Among these is Dallin D. OaksDallin D. Oaks
Dallin Dixon Oaks is a linguistics professor at Brigham Young University . He specializes in English linguistics.Oaks earned a BA in English teaching from BYU in 1984. From 1985 to 1987 Oaks was a teacher of English as a second language at Kaysville Junior High School and Davis High School in...
, a linguistics professor at Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
, and Jenny Oaks Baker
Jenny Oaks Baker
Jenny Oaks Baker is an American violinist. She was a first violinist in the National Symphony Orchestra for seven years. She has released nine studio albums.-Music career:Jenny Oaks Baker first began playing the violin at age four...
, a musician and artist. On August 25, 2000, Dallin H. Oaks married Kristen Meredith McMain in the Salt Lake Temple
Salt Lake Temple
The Salt Lake Temple is the largest and best-known of more than 130 temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the sixth temple built by the church, requiring 40 years to complete, and the fourth operating temple built since the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo,...
. Kristen was in her early 50s and had served a mission for the LDS Church many years earlier in the Japan Sendai Mission. Kristen has bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
.
Scholarly research and notable opinions
As a law professor, Oaks focused his scholarly research on the writ of habeas corpusHabeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
and the exclusionary rule
Exclusionary rule
The exclusionary rule is a legal principle in the United States, under constitutional law, which holds that evidence collected or analyzed in violation of the defendant's constitutional rights is sometimes inadmissible for a criminal prosecution in a court of law...
. In California v. Minjares, Justice William Rehnquist, in a dissenting opinion, wrote "[t]he most comprehensive study on the exclusionary rule is probably that done by Dallin Oaks for the American Bar Foundation in 1970. According to this article, it is an open question whether the exclusionary rule deters the police from violating Fourth Amendment protections of individuals.
Oaks also undertook a legal analysis of the Nauvoo
Nauvoo, Illinois
Nauvoo is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. Although the population was just 1,063 at the 2000 census, and despite being difficult to reach due to its location in a remote corner of Illinois, Nauvoo attracts large numbers of visitors for its historic importance and its...
City Council's actions against the Nauvoo Expositor
Nauvoo Expositor
The Nauvoo Expositor was a newspaper in Nauvoo, Illinois that published only one issue, which was dated June 7, 1844. Its publication set off a chain of events that led to the death of Latter Day Saint movement founder, Joseph Smith, Jr....
. He opined that while the destruction of the Expositor's printing press was legally questionable, under the law of the time the newspaper certainly could have been declared libelous and therefore a public nuisance by the Nauvoo City Council. As a result, Oaks concludes that while under contemporaneous law it would have been legally permissible for city officials to destroy, or "abate," the actual printed newspapers, the destruction of the printing press itself was probably outside of the council's legal authority, and its owners could have sued for damages.
As a Utah Supreme Court Justice from 1980 to 1984, Oaks authored opinions on a variety of topics. In In Re J. P., a proceeding was instituted on a petition of the Division of Family Services to terminate parental rights of natural mother. Oaks wrote that a parent has a fundamental right protected by the Constitution to sustain his relationship with his child but that a parent can nevertheless be deprived of parental rights upon a showing of unfitness, abandonment, and substantial neglect.
In KUTV, Inc. v. Conder, media representatives sought review by appeal and by a writ of prohibition of an order barring the media from using the words "Sugarhouse rapist" or disseminating any information on past convictions of defendant during the pendency of a criminal trial. Oaks, in the opinion delivered by the court, held that the order barring the media from using the words "Sugarhouse rapist" or disseminating any information on past convictions of defendant during the pendency of the criminal trial was invalid on the ground that it was not accompanied by the procedural formalities required for the issuance of such an order.
In Wells v. Children's Aid Soc. of Utah, an unwed minor father brought action through a guardian ad litem seeking custody of a newborn child that had been released to state adoption agency and subsequently to adoptive parents, after the father had failed to make timely filing of his acknowledgment of paternity as required by statute. Oaks, writing the opinion for the court, held that statute specifying procedure for terminating parental rights of unwed fathers was constitutional under due process clause of United States Constitution.
Legacy
Students at the University of Chicago Law SchoolUniversity of Chicago Law School
The University of Chicago Law School was founded in 1902 as the graduate school of law at the University of Chicago and is among the most prestigious and selective law schools in the world. The U.S. News & World Report currently ranks it fifth among U.S...
created the Dallin H. Oaks Society to "to increase awareness within the Law School community of the presence, beliefs, and concerns of law students who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," among other things.