Simon Sobeloff
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
attorney and jurist, who served as Solicitor General of the United States, as Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals of Maryland, and as Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:*District of Maryland*Eastern District of North Carolina...
.
Sobeloff was born in Baltimore, Maryland to Jacob and Mary Hilda (Kaplan) Sobeloff, who were Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
immigrants. Sobeloff attended public schools including Baltimore City College
Baltimore City College
The Baltimore City College , also referred to as The Castle on the Hill, historically as The College, and most commonly City, is a public high school in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. The City College curriculum includes the International Baccalaureate Programme and emphasizes study in the classics...
and the University of Maryland School of Law
University of Maryland School of Law
The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law is the second-oldest law school in the United States by date of establishment and third-oldest by date of first classes. The school is located on the campus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore in Downtown Baltimore's West Side...
, where he received his LL.B. degree in 1915.
He served as a Page
United States House of Representatives Page
United States House of Representatives Page Program was a program run by the United States House of Representatives, under the office of the Clerk of the House, in which appointed high school juniors acted as non-partisan federal employees in the House of Representatives, providing supplemental...
in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1910. He was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 1914, was a law clerk in Baltimore the same year, and subsequently went in to private practice. From 1919 through 1924 he served as the assistant city solicitor for Baltimore and was appointed the deputy city solicitor for Baltimore from 1927 to 1931. In 1931 he became the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, where he served until 1934. Subsequently, he was selected to be the Baltimore City Solicitor and the Special counsel to Baltimore City Housing Commission. In 1952, he was appointed to the position of Chief judge, Maryland Court of Appeals
Maryland Court of Appeals
The Court of Appeals of Maryland is the supreme court of the U.S. state of Maryland. The court, which is composed of one chief judge and six associate judges, meets in the Robert C. Murphy Courts of Appeal Building in the state capital, Annapolis...
, where he served until 1954.
From 1954 through 1956, Sobeloff served as United States Solicitor General
United States Solicitor General
The United States Solicitor General is the person appointed to represent the federal government of the United States before the Supreme Court of the United States. The current Solicitor General, Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 6, 2011 and sworn in on June...
in the Administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
. Sobeloff presented the government's arguments on the implementation of the Supreme Court's decision of May, 1954, to outlaw segregation in public schools. In 1956 he was appointed judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:*District of Maryland*Eastern District of North Carolina...
and in 1958 he became the chief judge, where he served until his death. He is buried in Hebrew Friendship Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland.
He married Irene Ehrlich in May 1918 and they had two daughters: Ruth J. S. (Sobeloff) Mayer; Evva S. (Sobeloff) Goldstrom Vale; and four grandchildren: Michael Sobeloff Mayer; Sally Mayer Kliegman; Susan Goldstrom Plichta; Emily Goldstrom Schwab.