Scope and Content Note
The papers of James Skelly Wright (1911-1988) span the years 1933-1987, with the bulk of the papers dating from 1948 to 1986. The papers document Wright's career as a judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, 1949-1962, and the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, 1962-1987. The papers consist of six series: General Correspondence, United States District Court File, United States Court of Appeals File, Speeches and Writings File, Miscellany, and 2023 Addition.
The General Correspondence series includes incoming and outgoing correspondence relating to Wright's professional and personal interests. Much of the correspondence from 1962 through 1987 is from members of the legal profession and relates to professional matters.
The United States District Court File is divided into four subseries: General Correspondence, Case File, Opinions, and Office Files. The chronological files in the General Correspondence subseries contain incoming and outgoing correspondence pertaining mainly to district court matters. The latter part of this subseries, segregation correspondence, consists of letters to Wright about his civil rights decisions from 1956 through 1962. These letters reflect the deep emotional anguish felt by not only the people of Louisiana, but individuals throughout the United States.
The Case File subseries, arranged chronologically by date of last court action, constitutes the bulk of the district court series and consists primarily of papers relating to cases that came before Wright as a judge in the Eastern District of Louisiana. Also included, however, are case files documenting Wright's service as a visiting judge for other circuits, mainly the Southern District Court of New York, and a few cases about which Wright made no decisions but were of interest to him. Both the Case File and the Opinions subseries reflect the wide range of cases that came before the Eastern District Court during Wright's thirteen-year tenure. Two areas in which Wright was considered particularly adept were maritime law and civil rights. The latter brought him into national prominence with his decision in 1960 on Bush v. Orleans Parish School Board. His enforcement of the law mandated by the 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education led to the desegregation of the public schools in New Orleans, an arduous process that earned him the wrath and hatred of many in the local white community. The case sheets preceding the case files provide a summary of many of Wright's cases from 1949 through 1954. Papers in the Opinions subseries consist of opinions written by Wright and a few opinions written by others. Most of Wright's opinions are typescripts, although those of later years also include final printed versions. The opinions, arranged chronologically by year, are preceded by an alphabetical index, which for most of the cases identifies when they were decided. Opinions also appear in the Case File and Office File subseries.
Papers in the Office Files subseries include correspondence, memoranda, opinions, notes, charges to juries, and reports documenting Wright's administrative activities and his involvement in judicial conferences and local law institutes.
The United States Court of Appeals File constitutes over half of the collection. This series documents Wright's twenty-five years of service as a judge on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals and his six years on the Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals. Papers in this series are divided into the following subseries: Case File, Opinions, and Office Files.
The Case File subseries includes correspondence and memoranda (chiefly between the judges, the court clerk, and lawyers), briefs, opinions, orders, writs, petitions, vote sheets, notes, background information, clippings, and printed matter. Cases are arranged chronologically by court term beginning in September of each year and therein alphabetically by case. There are, however, exceptions to this order such as opinions and other documents generated after the court term ended in June. This material is usually filed in the previous court term, i.e., an opinion written in August 1979 would be filed in the September term of 1978. Case sheets, organized chronologically by calendar year as Wright's staff arranged them, precede the cases and provide a detailed summary of Wright's caseload. The majority of his files pertain to criminal cases and cases involving federal regulatory agencies. Although known for being a champion of civil liberties in criminal justice cases and a proponent of equal justice for the poor, Wright had the most impact in the area of civil rights. His decision in Hobson v. Hansen curbed discriminatory policies in the District of Columbia school system. In that case Wright sought to end de facto segregation in the public schools by ordering that education resources be equalized throughout Washington, D.C. Other interesting cases relate to the presidency of the United States, including the Watergate burglary and coverup during the Nixon administration and John Hinckley's arrest for the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1981.
Papers in the Opinions subseries include published opinions written by Wright and also lists indicating authorship of opinions and case assignments for the District of Columbia Circuit Court. The opinions are arranged chronologically by year, and located in the first folder of each year is an index identifying the names and subjects of cases heard by Wright.
The Office Files subseries relates to Wright's administrative duties and professional activities during his tenure on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals and the Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals of the United States. The files reflect Wright's activities in such areas as judicial conferences and councils, investiture ceremonies, and moot court.
The Speeches and Writings File documents Wright's busy schedule as a speaker and writer. Appearing primarily before law classes and legal conferences, Wright's speech files consist chiefly of typescripts and background information, although many of his speeches contain handwritten notations. The majority of the correspondence relates to scheduling matters for speaking engagements. The writings contain book reviews and articles written primarily for legal journals.
The Miscellany series includes correspondence, memoranda, financial papers, teaching materials, photographs, clippings, and printed matter. The majority of the series focuses on Wright's law classes as a professor at Loyola University in New Orleans, 1951-1961, and his early career as a notary public, 1936-1942.
The 2023 Addition primarily documents Wright's service on the United States Court of Appeals, and contains additional case files and office files. The case files largely document cases involving federal agencies and pertain to a variety of topics, including redress for Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II, the Freedom of Information Act, and various regulatory issues. A small United States District Court file contains material relating to opinions issued by that court.
Among the most significant and frequent of Wright's correspondents are Robert Andrew Ainsworth, Jack Bass, Hugo LaFayette Black, Wayne G. Borah, H. Payne Breazeale, John Robert Brown, Ben Franklin Cameron, Robert Coles, Herbert William Christenberry, Kenneth Culp Davis, Eberhard P. Deutsch, Susan Estrich, Abe Fortas, G. W. Foster (1919- ), John Paul Frank, Fred W. Friendly, Joseph C. Hutcheson (1879-1973), J. Edward Lumbard, Sidney C. Mize, Lee Mortimer, Thomas F. Murphy, Frank T. Read, Eugene V. Rostow, Ralph Slovenko, and Simon Ernest Sobeloff.