James E. Bolin
Encyclopedia
James Edwin Bolin, Sr. was an American jurist and politician
who served as a judge of the Louisiana
Second Circuit Court of Appeal and Louisiana Supreme Court
as well as a Democratic
member of the Louisiana House of Representatives
from Minden
, the seat of Webster Parish in the northwestern part of his state.
In 1975, U.S. Representative Joseph David "Joe D." Waggonner, Jr., of Plain Dealing
in Bossier Parish, urged then U.S. President Gerald R. Ford, Jr., to nominate Judge Bolin to the United States Supreme Court. Waggonner said that his fellow Louisianan exhibited the "highest degree of judicial excellence." Ford, however, tapped Chicago jurist John Paul Stevens
for the seat vacated by William O. Douglas
.
Bolin was one of ten children born to Mr. and Mrs. E.H. Bolin in the village
of Doyline
in south Webster Parish. E.H. Bolin was a member of the Webster Parish School Board and the subject of a biographical sketch in North Louisiana History. Bolin attended school in Doyline and later transferred to Minden, where he graduated in 1931 from Minden High School
as the class president. His name was misspelled "Bolen" on the graduation program. Bolin then procured his undergraduate degree in 1935 from Louisiana State University
in Baton Rouge. He obtained his legal degree from the LSU Law Center in 1937 and maintained a private practice in Minden from 1937–1942 and again from 1946-1952.
From 1942-1946, while still a state representative for two years remaining in his term, Bolin served in the European Theatre of World War II, including England, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, and Germany. He received the Bronze Star
, the Purple Heart
, the French Croix de Guerre
, the Combat Infantryman Badge
, and the European Theater of Operations Ribbon, with four battle stars. After the war, he served with the prosecution team at the historic war crime trials at Nuremberg, Germany. Bolin did not seek reelection to the Louisiana House and was succeeded by C.W. Thompson
of Doyline, then the president of the Webster Parish School Board. Thompson ran unopposed in 1944 for Bolin's seat.
From December 14, 1948, to December 31, 1952, Bolin served as district attorney
for Webster and Bossier
parishes. In the DA race, Bolin defeated Bossier Parish attorney and later state representative Ford E. Stinson
, 4,474 to 2,561. Bolin was known for the prosecution of gambling
and racketeering. In September 1952, Bolin was elected to the 26th Judicial District Court bench and reelected without opposition in 1954. In 1954, Bolin sentenced Minden Mayor
John T. David
to 120 days on the Webster Parish Penal Farm for two bootlegging
misdemeanor
s. The convictions were upheld by the Louisiana Supreme Court
. Bolin left the district judgeship in 1960, when he was subsequently elected to a new seat on the 20-parish Second Circuit Court of Appeal, where he served until his retirement in 1978.
His younger son, Bruce Martin Bolin
(born 1950), also of Minden, served in the same Louisiana House seat which Bolin had previously held. Bruce Bolin was a representative from 1978, when he won a special election to succeed the retiring R. Harmon Drew, Sr.
, until 1990, when he resigned from the House to begin his tenure in the same district court judgeship previously held by his father. Bolin's older son, James E. Bolin, Jr. (born September 10, 1941), is a practicing attorney in Shreveport
.
Bolin opposed antiwar demonstrators at the height of the Vietnam War
. In an address before a civic group entitled "The Spirit of Rebellion", the judge decried the breakdown in law and order across the nation stemming in part from discontent over the controversial war.
In 1937, Bolin wed his 1931 Minden High School classmate, the former Mary Eloise Martin (October 30, 1913 — September 20, 2007). She was a former high school
English
teacher and a 1935 graduate of Louisiana Tech University
in Ruston
. The Bolins also had two daughters, Beth Bolin Falk and Becky Bolin Maupin. Bolin died in an assisted living facility in Shreveport.
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
who served as a judge of the Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
Second Circuit Court of Appeal and Louisiana Supreme Court
Louisiana Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Louisiana is the highest court and court of last resort in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The modern Supreme Court, composed of seven justices, meets in the French Quarter of New Orleans....
as well as a Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
member of the Louisiana House of Representatives
Louisiana House of Representatives
The Louisiana House of Representatives is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the US state of Louisiana. The House is composed of 105 Representatives, each of whom represents approximately 42,500 people . Members serve four-year terms with a term limit of...
from Minden
Minden, Louisiana
Minden is a city in the American state of Louisiana. It serves as the parish seat of Webster Parish and is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish. The population, which has been stable since 1960, was 13,027 at the 2000 census...
, the seat of Webster Parish in the northwestern part of his state.
In 1975, U.S. Representative Joseph David "Joe D." Waggonner, Jr., of Plain Dealing
Plain Dealing, Louisiana
Plain Dealing is a town in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, United States best known as the birthplace of former U.S. Representative Joe D. Waggonner, Jr. The population was 1,071 at the 2000 census...
in Bossier Parish, urged then U.S. President Gerald R. Ford, Jr., to nominate Judge Bolin to the United States Supreme Court. Waggonner said that his fellow Louisianan exhibited the "highest degree of judicial excellence." Ford, however, tapped Chicago jurist John Paul Stevens
John Paul Stevens
John Paul Stevens served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from December 19, 1975 until his retirement on June 29, 2010. At the time of his retirement, he was the oldest member of the Court and the third-longest serving justice in the Court's history...
for the seat vacated by William O. Douglas
William O. Douglas
William Orville Douglas was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. With a term lasting 36 years and 209 days, he is the longest-serving justice in the history of the Supreme Court...
.
Bolin was one of ten children born to Mr. and Mrs. E.H. Bolin in the village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
of Doyline
Doyline, Louisiana
Doyline is a village in southwestern Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 841 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area....
in south Webster Parish. E.H. Bolin was a member of the Webster Parish School Board and the subject of a biographical sketch in North Louisiana History. Bolin attended school in Doyline and later transferred to Minden, where he graduated in 1931 from Minden High School
Minden High School (Minden, Louisiana)
Minden High School is the public secondary educational institution in Minden, a small city of 13,000 and the seat of Webster Parish located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport in northwestern Louisiana...
as the class president. His name was misspelled "Bolen" on the graduation program. Bolin then procured his undergraduate degree in 1935 from Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
in Baton Rouge. He obtained his legal degree from the LSU Law Center in 1937 and maintained a private practice in Minden from 1937–1942 and again from 1946-1952.
From 1942-1946, while still a state representative for two years remaining in his term, Bolin served in the European Theatre of World War II, including England, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, and Germany. He received the Bronze Star
Bronze Star Medal
The Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces individual military decoration that may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service. As a medal it is awarded for merit, and with the "V" for valor device it is awarded for heroism. It is the fourth-highest combat award of the...
, the Purple Heart
Purple Heart
The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...
, the French Croix de Guerre
Croix de guerre
The Croix de guerre is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was awarded during World War I, again in World War II, and in other conflicts...
, the Combat Infantryman Badge
Combat Infantryman Badge
The Combat Infantryman Badge is the U.S. Army combat service recognition decoration awarded to soldiers—enlisted men and officers holding colonel rank or below, who personally fought in active ground combat while an assigned member of either an infantry or a Special Forces unit, of brigade size...
, and the European Theater of Operations Ribbon, with four battle stars. After the war, he served with the prosecution team at the historic war crime trials at Nuremberg, Germany. Bolin did not seek reelection to the Louisiana House and was succeeded by C.W. Thompson
C.W. Thompson
Clyde W. Thompson, known as C.W. Thompson , was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives who served from 1944 until his death in office. He was briefly succeeded as representative by his widow, Lizzie P...
of Doyline, then the president of the Webster Parish School Board. Thompson ran unopposed in 1944 for Bolin's seat.
From December 14, 1948, to December 31, 1952, Bolin served as district attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
for Webster and Bossier
Bossier Parish, Louisiana
Bossier Parish is named for Pierre Bossier, a 19th-century Louisiana state senator and U.S. representative from Natchitoches Parish.Bossier Parish was spared fighting on its soil during the American Civil War...
parishes. In the DA race, Bolin defeated Bossier Parish attorney and later state representative Ford E. Stinson
Ford E. Stinson
Ford Edwards Stinson, Sr. , was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1940–1944 and again from 1952-1972. In his last legislative term from 1968–1972, he served in a two-member district covering Bossier Parish with fellow Democrat Walter O. Bigby...
, 4,474 to 2,561. Bolin was known for the prosecution of gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
and racketeering. In September 1952, Bolin was elected to the 26th Judicial District Court bench and reelected without opposition in 1954. In 1954, Bolin sentenced Minden Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
John T. David
John T. David
John Thomas David, Sr. was the Democratic mayor of the small city of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, from 1946-1955...
to 120 days on the Webster Parish Penal Farm for two bootlegging
Rum-running
Rum-running, also known as bootlegging, is the illegal business of transporting alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law...
misdemeanor
Misdemeanor
A misdemeanor is a "lesser" criminal act in many common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished much less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions and regulatory offences...
s. The convictions were upheld by the Louisiana Supreme Court
Louisiana Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Louisiana is the highest court and court of last resort in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The modern Supreme Court, composed of seven justices, meets in the French Quarter of New Orleans....
. Bolin left the district judgeship in 1960, when he was subsequently elected to a new seat on the 20-parish Second Circuit Court of Appeal, where he served until his retirement in 1978.
His younger son, Bruce Martin Bolin
Bruce M. Bolin
Bruce Martin Bolin is a current Louisiana state district court judge who was a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1979 to 1990. Bolin holds court in the 26th Judicial District based in Benton, the seat of Bossier Parish. He is a native of Minden, the seat of...
(born 1950), also of Minden, served in the same Louisiana House seat which Bolin had previously held. Bruce Bolin was a representative from 1978, when he won a special election to succeed the retiring R. Harmon Drew, Sr.
R. Harmon Drew, Sr.
Richard Harmon Drew, Sr. was a fourth generation judge and a former Democratic state representative who was descended from pioneer families of Webster Parish in north Louisiana...
, until 1990, when he resigned from the House to begin his tenure in the same district court judgeship previously held by his father. Bolin's older son, James E. Bolin, Jr. (born September 10, 1941), is a practicing attorney in Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
.
Bolin opposed antiwar demonstrators at the height of the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. In an address before a civic group entitled "The Spirit of Rebellion", the judge decried the breakdown in law and order across the nation stemming in part from discontent over the controversial war.
In 1937, Bolin wed his 1931 Minden High School classmate, the former Mary Eloise Martin (October 30, 1913 — September 20, 2007). She was a former high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
English
English studies
English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
teacher and a 1935 graduate of Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech University, often referred to as Louisiana Tech, LA Tech, or Tech, is a coeducational public research university located in Ruston, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech is designated as a Tier 1 school in the national universities category by the 2012 U.S. News & World Report college rankings...
in Ruston
Ruston, Louisiana
Ruston is a city in and the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 20,546 at the 2000 census. Ruston is near the eastern border of the Ark-La-Tex and is the home of Louisiana Tech University. Its economy caters to its college population...
. The Bolins also had two daughters, Beth Bolin Falk and Becky Bolin Maupin. Bolin died in an assisted living facility in Shreveport.