Martin Manton
Encyclopedia
Martin Thomas Manton was a prominent United States
federal Judge
in New York City
, sometimes remembered for having resigned and served time in prison
for accepting bribes while in office. In 1916 he was the youngest federal judge in the United States
.
in 1901 and worked as a lawyer in private practice in Manhattan for 15 years. In 1915 he was the lawyer for Charles Becker
in the Rosenthal murder trial.
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson
named Manton as a Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
. After two years on the District Court, in 1918 Manton was promoted to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
, the federal appeals court for New York, Connecticut, and Vermont.
In 1922, President Warren G. Harding
considered appointing Manton to the Supreme Court
to succeed Justice William R. Day
in what was then regarded as the "Catholic
seat" on the Court. Manton encountered opposition led by Chief Justice William Howard Taft
, and Harding ultimately appointed Justice Pierce Butler
to the seat. Manton continued to serve on the Second Circuit, which during that era was one of the most distinguished courts in American history, including judges such as Learned Hand, Augustus Hand
, Charles Merrill Hough
, and Thomas Walter Swan.
During the 1930's, Manton's seniority made him the Senior Circuit Judge of the Court (the rough equivalent of the Chief Judge
position today). He wrote a memorable dissenting opinion in the obscenity
litigation instigated by Bennett Cerf
concerning the book Ulysses
by James Joyce
, United States v. One Book Entitled Ulysses
, 72 F.2d 705
(2d Cir. 1934). Judges Learned Hand and Augustus Hand decided that the book was not obscene, but Manton voted to ban it. Manton was also involved in a series of controversial decisions concerning control and financing of the companies then operating the New York City subway
s.
Manton suffered severe financial reverses during the Great Depression
and began to accept gifts and loans from persons having business before his court, some of which constituted outright bribes for selling his vote in pending patent
litigations. Rumors of corruption spread and in 1939, Manton resigned under pressure of investigations by Manhattan District Attorney
Thomas E. Dewey, who wrote a letter to the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee recommending impeachment
proceedings, and by a federal grand jury
. Following his resignation, Manton was indicted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York where he once sat as a judge. The government was represented at trial by John T. Cahill, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Assistant United States Attorneys, Mathias F. Correa, Jerome Doyle, Frank H. Gordon and Silvio J. Mollo. Honorable William Calvin Chestnut of the District of Maryland presided over the jury trial at which Manton called former Democratic Presidential candidates Alfred Smith and John W. Davis as character witnesses. Manton became the first federal judge convicted of accepting bribes. Manton's conviction was affirmed by a specially constituted Second Circuit panel consisting of retired Supreme Court Justice George Sutherland
, Supreme Court Justice Harlan Fiske Stone
, and newly appointed Second Circuit Judge Charles Edward Clark
. Manton was sentenced to two years in Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary
and served 17 months.
Following release from prison, he moved to Fayetteville, NY, where he died on November 17, 1946. To this day, a park in Queens, NY bears Manton's name.
The 1940 Pulitzer Prize for reporting was awarded to S. Burton Heath for his coverage of the Manton trial for the New York World-Telegram.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
federal Judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, sometimes remembered for having resigned and served time in prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
for accepting bribes while in office. In 1916 he was the youngest federal judge in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Biography
He was born on August 2, 1880. Manton graduated from Columbia Law SchoolColumbia Law School
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...
in 1901 and worked as a lawyer in private practice in Manhattan for 15 years. In 1915 he was the lawyer for Charles Becker
Charles Becker
Charles Becker was a New York City police officer in the 1890s-1910s and who was tried, convicted and executed for ordering the murder of a Manhattan gambler, Herman Rosenthal in the Becker-Rosenthal trial. Becker was the first American police officer to receive the death penalty for murder...
in the Rosenthal murder trial.
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
named Manton as a Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is a federal district court. Appeals from the Southern District of New York are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case...
. After two years on the District Court, in 1918 Manton was promoted to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals...
, the federal appeals court for New York, Connecticut, and Vermont.
In 1922, President Warren G. Harding
Warren G. Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...
considered appointing Manton to the Supreme Court
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...
to succeed Justice William R. Day
William R. Day
William Rufus Day was an American diplomat and jurist, who served for nineteen years as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.-Biography:...
in what was then regarded as the "Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
seat" on the Court. Manton encountered opposition led by Chief Justice William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
, and Harding ultimately appointed Justice Pierce Butler
Pierce Butler (justice)
Pierce Butler was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1923 until his death in 1939...
to the seat. Manton continued to serve on the Second Circuit, which during that era was one of the most distinguished courts in American history, including judges such as Learned Hand, Augustus Hand
Augustus Noble Hand
Augustus Noble Hand was an American judge who served on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and later on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. His most notable rulings restricted the reach of obscenity statutes in the areas of literature and...
, Charles Merrill Hough
Charles Merrill Hough
Charles Merrill Hough was a longtime federal judge in New York City.Hough attended Dartmouth College and then "read law" before being admitted to the New York bar in 1883...
, and Thomas Walter Swan.
During the 1930's, Manton's seniority made him the Senior Circuit Judge of the Court (the rough equivalent of the Chief Judge
Chief judge
Chief Judge is a title that can refer to the highest-ranking judge of a court that has more than one judge. The meaning and usage of the term vary from one court system to another...
position today). He wrote a memorable dissenting opinion in the obscenity
Obscenity
An obscenity is any statement or act which strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time, is a profanity, or is otherwise taboo, indecent, abhorrent, or disgusting, or is especially inauspicious...
litigation instigated by Bennett Cerf
Bennett Cerf
Bennett Alfred Cerf was a publisher and co-founder of Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearances lecturing across the United States, and for his television appearances in the panel game show What's My Line?.-Biography:Bennett Cerf...
concerning the book Ulysses
Ulysses (novel)
Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...
by James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
, United States v. One Book Entitled Ulysses
United States v. One Book Called Ulysses
United States v. One Book Called Ulysses was a 1933 case in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York dealing with freedom of expression. At issue was whether James Joyce's novel Ulysses was obscene. In deciding it was not, Judge John M...
, 72 F.2d 705
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
(2d Cir. 1934). Judges Learned Hand and Augustus Hand decided that the book was not obscene, but Manton voted to ban it. Manton was also involved in a series of controversial decisions concerning control and financing of the companies then operating the New York City subway
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
s.
Manton suffered severe financial reverses during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and began to accept gifts and loans from persons having business before his court, some of which constituted outright bribes for selling his vote in pending patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
litigations. Rumors of corruption spread and in 1939, Manton resigned under pressure of investigations by Manhattan District Attorney
New York County District Attorney
The New York County District Attorney is the elected district attorney for New York County , New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws....
Thomas E. Dewey, who wrote a letter to the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee recommending impeachment
Impeachment
Impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as other punishment....
proceedings, and by a federal grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
. Following his resignation, Manton was indicted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York where he once sat as a judge. The government was represented at trial by John T. Cahill, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Assistant United States Attorneys, Mathias F. Correa, Jerome Doyle, Frank H. Gordon and Silvio J. Mollo. Honorable William Calvin Chestnut of the District of Maryland presided over the jury trial at which Manton called former Democratic Presidential candidates Alfred Smith and John W. Davis as character witnesses. Manton became the first federal judge convicted of accepting bribes. Manton's conviction was affirmed by a specially constituted Second Circuit panel consisting of retired Supreme Court Justice George Sutherland
George Sutherland
Alexander George Sutherland was an English-born U.S. jurist and political figure. One of four appointments to the Supreme Court by President Warren G. Harding, he served as an Associate Justice of the U.S...
, Supreme Court Justice Harlan Fiske Stone
Harlan Fiske Stone
Harlan Fiske Stone was an American lawyer and jurist. A native of New Hampshire, he served as the dean of Columbia Law School, his alma mater, in the early 20th century. As a member of the Republican Party, he was appointed as the 52nd Attorney General of the United States before becoming an...
, and newly appointed Second Circuit Judge Charles Edward Clark
Charles Edward Clark
Charles Edward Clark was a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1939 to 1963. A native of Connecticut, Clark attended Yale College and Yale Law School...
. Manton was sentenced to two years in Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary
Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary
The United States Penitentiary in Lewisburg is a male inmate high security federal penitentiary and satellite minimum security prison camp housing some 1,000 and 500 respectively, just outside Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The Lewisburg Penitentiary was opened in 1932...
and served 17 months.
Following release from prison, he moved to Fayetteville, NY, where he died on November 17, 1946. To this day, a park in Queens, NY bears Manton's name.
The 1940 Pulitzer Prize for reporting was awarded to S. Burton Heath for his coverage of the Manton trial for the New York World-Telegram.
Further reading
- Danelski, David J., A Supreme Court Justice Is Appointed (Random House 1964).
- Gould, Milton S., The Witness Who Spoke with God and Other Tales from the Courthouse (Viking Press 1979).
- Younger, Irving, Ulysses in Court: The Litigation Surrounding the First Publication of James Joyce's Novel in the United States (Professional Education Group transcript of Younger speech)
- Borkin, Joseph, The Corrupt Judge (Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. 1962)(pp. 25-137)