Scope and Content Note
The Oral History Project of the Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit was initiated in 1991 to preserve the recollections of judges, judges’ spouses, lawyers, and court staff associated primarily with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The interviews document primarily the period from the 1940s to 2020 and include biographical information, discussions of the judicial process, history of the circuit, the evolution of significant cases, and the role of law clerks in the circuit. Among the interviewees are Robert S. Bennett, Robert H. Bork, James Lane Buckley, Lloyd N. Cutler, Samuel Dash, Gerhard Alden Gesell, David Ginsburg, Erwin N. Griswold, Harold H. Greene, Abner J. Mikva, E. Barrett Prettyman Jr., Joseph L. Rauh, Patricia M. Wald, Paul C. Warnke, and Helen Patton Wright. Each transcript is supplemented by an index.
The 2022 Addition expands upon the material within the collection with additional oral histories from judges and lawyers of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Among the interviewees are Judith Areen, Katherine S. Broderick, William B. Bryant, Arthur L. Burnett, Charles T. Duncan, Douglas H. Ginsburg, William R. “Billy” Martin, Irvin B. Nathan, Frank Q. Nebeker, A. Raymond Randolph Jr., Richard Warren Roberts, Laurence H. Silberman, Mark H. Tuohey, and Reggie B. Walton. The addition also includes a 1959 oral history interview with Charles Fahy, which was conducted separately from the society's oral history project.