Wilfred Feinberg Papers, 1936-2011, bulk 1960-2011

In preparation for his departure from the district court, Feinberg wrote notes and case conference summaries for the district judges scheduled to replace him on ongoing cases. This subseries also includes copies of scheduling calendars, and is arranged by date.

Feinberg kept his district case files separated into civil and criminal arrangements, and his original order has been maintained. Each case consists of a folder (or folders) and includes some combination of pre-trial and research notes, amicus curiae from interested agencies and parties, clippings related to the case, correspondence from the parties and the public, inter-judge memoranda, legal precedent research, opinions (both draft and published), other court pleadings, and pre-trial and trial transcripts. Two of Feinberg's noteworthy cases includeDavis v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company249 F.Supp. 329 (SDNY 1966) and Zippo Manufacturing Co. v. Rogers Imports, Inc.216 F.Supp. 670 (SDNY 1963).Zippo Manufacturingdealt with a question of copyright infringement, but its enduring relevance has to do with Feinberg's decision that consumer surveys are admissible as evidence.Davis v DuPontis another copyright infringement case regarding a 1960 telecast ofEthan Frome.

The bound docket books are chronological, and include an alphabetical index and a brief summary of each case and its final dispensation. Case files, divided into civil and criminal, are arranged alphabetically by plaintiff name.

The electrical equipment antitrust cases of the 1960s prompted major developments in judicial policy for complex multidistrict litigation. Grand jury indictments against electrical equipment manufacturers led to criminal convictions for price-fixing in 1961, which prompted more than 2000 private antitrust suits in 35 districts. In response, the Judicial Conference created the nine-member Co-Ordinating Committee for Multiple Litigation, and Feinberg assisted fellow SDNY District Judge Sylvester Ryan with the committee. It was a multiyear administrative undertaking, and this subseries includes substantial correspondence, research material and committee discussions and memoranda, as well as a record of the sizable pleadings and complex scheduling overseen by the Co-Ordinating Committee.

This subseries relates to Feinberg's October 1961 recess appointment by President Kennedy and his formal nomination and Senate confirmation the following spring. Materials include clippings, letters of congratulations, photographs, and programs. Each file is arranged chronologically.

Jury charges are the instructions a judge delivers to a jury prior to deliberation regarding the questions of fact at issue. This subseries is divided into civil and criminal jury charges and includes both official New York Pattern Jury Instructions and Feinberg's drafts of case-specific jury instructions. Materials are arranged alphabetically by charge.

Motions ruled on by Feinberg are divided by type and filed chronologically by court term. This subseries also includes court calendars and hearing schedules.

This subseries includes final versions of all filed legal memoranda and opinions written by Feinberg. The subseries begins with an alphabetical index by case citation. The opinions and memoranda are filed chronologically by court term.

This subseries consists of records relating to the administrative functioning of the Second Circuit. Much of the material dates from Feinberg's tenure as Chief Judge (1980-1988), a position with significant administrative responsibility and chairmanship of the Circuit Judicial Council. Administrative reports and memoranda were written and received throughout Feinberg's tenure on the court, however.

The subseries is divided alphabetically by subject and includes 17 files. Official reports from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (the administrative agency for the federal judiciary as a whole) and the Circuit Court Executive (the administrator responsible for the Second Circuit) make up the bulk of this subseries. Materials in this subseries include administrative notices, budget reports, calendars, clippings, inter-judge memoranda on a wide variety of subjects, meeting minutes, records of disciplinary proceedings and disqualifications, statistics, and visiting judge appointments.

Also present are programs and correspondence related to official court ceremonies, including memorials, inductions, and retirements. Judges' salaries were an ongoing concern throughout the judiciary, with judges occasionally returning to private practice in order to secure greater compensation, and the correspondence and clippings related to this issue is valuable. Vacancies on the district level are a frequent concern, and senior judges were particularly valuable for their availability to sit as visiting judges on the Circuit's district courts, as well as other circuits.

Within each subject, materials are arranged reverse-chronologically.

This subseries makes up the bulk of the collection, consisting of more than seventy-five record cartons. Feinberg's chambers case files vary in size and detail, but include some combination of the following: annotations, copies of the decision or offprints from theFederal Reporter, drafts of opinions and rulings, motions filed in the case, inter-judge and inter-court case-related memoranda, newsclippings, notes, relevant district court rulings, and research material.

Regular Argument Calendar files are foldered alphabetically by appellant last name. There are three boxes of Non-Argument Calendar files (a separate calendar exclusively for petitions for review of a denial of asylum), arranged chronologically by review panel week, maintaining Feinberg's original order. Docket sheets include an alphabetical index, a brief summary of each of Feinberg's cases, and their final dispensation. From 1965 through 1984 the docket sheets were bound volumes, subsequently they are foldered chronologically.

Some noteworthy cases, as highlighted by Feinberg in his oral history in Subseries IX.4 are listed below, with a very brief summary. The final two parts of the oral history discuss these cases, and a few dozen more, in much greater detail. More extensive lists of noteworthy rulings can be found in Subseries IX.1. Unless otherwise noted, Feinberg wrote the majority opinion:

--United States v. Miller367 F.2d 72 (2d. Cir. 1966), which held that the prosecution of a protestor who burned his draft card to show his opposition to the Vietnam War was indeed constitutional.

--Torrington Co. v. Metal Products Workers Union Local1645 362 F.2d 677 (2d Cir. 1966), a labor arbitration case where the district decision against the union was upheld 2-1. Feinberg's first dissent.

--J.P. Stevens & Co. v. National Labor Relations Board380 F.2d 292 (2d Cir. 1967), the first of a series of cases against J.P. Stevens for violating national labor law. The case inspired the 1979 movieNorma Rae.

--Kelly v. Wyman294 F.Supp. 893 (SDNY 1968), Feinberg was the Circuit Judge on this three-judge court and ruled that welfare recipients were entitled to a hearing before any of their benefits could be terminated. Feinberg's opinion was upheld by the Supreme Court inGoldberg v. Kelly397 U.S. 254 (1970) and the decision is considered a landmark in the welfare rights movement.

--Goetz v. Ansell477 F.2d 636 (2d. Cir. 1973), upholding a high school student's right to refuse to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance.

--In the Matter of Andros Compania Maritima579 F.2d 691 (2d Cir. 1978), a frequently-cited arbitration case that limits when courts can interfere with arbitrators.

En banc cases require a majority vote of the judges in favor of hearing an appeal before the full court, instead of the traditional three judge panel. Although en banc power was granted to the appellate courts in 1948, each circuit court has its own traditions and rules governing en banc procedures. The Second Circuit has been one of the most hesitant to hear a case en banc, so this subseries is substantially smaller than the Subseries III.2, and it has been arranged and described separately to preserve Feinberg's original order. Noteworthy case files include:

--Sostre v. McGinnis442 F.2d 178 (2d Cir. 1971), an en banc hearing to determine the extent (and any violation) of federal constitutional rights of state prisoners. Feinberg wrote a partial dissent in which he argued that there must be a definite limit to solitary confinement, and that Sostre's extended "punitive segregation" violated the Eighth Amendment.

--New York Times Company v. United States44 F.2d 544 (2d Cir. 1971), the Pentagon Papers case. The ruling itself was not especially noteworthy: with Feinberg and two other judges dissenting, the Second Circuit en banc affirmed the Nixon Administration's restraining order against the continued publication of the Papers. After an emergency appeal by theTimesto the Supreme Court, the Second Circuit's ruling was reversed four days later.

In addition to cases that were approved and heard en banc, this subseries includes discussions of en banc protocol and judges' poll responses to petitions for review and hearing en banc.

This subseries includes agendas, correspondence, minutes, and programs from a number of formal and informal groups of the judges of the Second Circuit.

Open to all judges, the Circuit Court Agenda Luncheons were an informal judicial journal club, the quarterly Court Meetings served a more official administrative purpose, and the annual court retreats combined administrative business and social time for the judges. The Judicial Conference of the Second Judicial Circuit is the largest of the circuit meetings, a formal annual meeting that includes all of the appellate judges of the Second Circuit, as well as administrators and the district, bankruptcy, and magistrate judges within the Second Circuit. The Judicial Council of the Second Circuit is the official governing body of the circuit, comprised of the Chief Judge, a panel of appellate judges, and a representative from each of the district courts.

Within the subseries, each file's folders are arranged reverse-chronologically to maintain Feinberg's original order.

Motions ruled on by Feinberg are divided by type and filed reverse-chronologically by calendar week. Materials do not always include the motion itself, but each motion folder includes any recommendations submitted by the Staff Attorneys' Office, inter-judge memoranda, and copies of filed orders.

Although this subseries deals with Feinberg's opinions, it includes very few reprints or drafts of his published opinions. Materials include administrative files regarding opinion composition, limited memoranda regarding opinion protocol, statistics of both Feinberg's opinions and the rulings of the Court as a whole, and drafts of his unpublished opinions. Also included in this subseries are lists of Feinberg's significant opinions, as suggested by his law clerks. Further lists of noteworthy rulings can be found in Subseries IX.1, and discussions of them can be found in his oral history in Subseries IX.4.

Materials are arranged reverse-chronologically.

This subseries includes materials relating to those litigants who represented (or wished to represent) themselves without an attorney. Pro Se hearings were held on a separate calendar and administered by the Pro Se Clerk. Records include correspondence, memoranda, reports, scheduling, and statistics from the Clerk's office, as well as pro se applications and litigant correspondence misdirected to Judge Feinberg's chambers instead of the Clerk of Court.

Materials are filed reverse-chronologically except for Litigant Correspondence, which is filed alphabetically by correspondent name.

This subseries includes official correspondence related to Judge Feinberg's nomination to the Court of Appeals, congratulations from Feinberg's friends and colleagues, and induction programs from the ceremony. Materials are arranged reverse-chronologically.

The bulk of materials relating to the court calendar and scheduling is in this subseries and includes calendars, memoranda, minutes, procedural and protocol information, reports and statistics. Calendars include information for weeks where Feinberg was not sitting. Each file is arranged reverse-chronologically.

This subseries includes subject files related to the court's functioning. The bulk of the materials are memoranda between the judges and the Clerk and Circuit Executive, as well as reports and statistics. There are thirteen topical files in this subseries, and material within each file is arranged reverse-chronologically.

This subseries includes Feinberg's official committee service, excepting his work on the Judicial Conference's Long Range Planning Committee, which can be found in Subseries V.3. Committee reports from informal committees, Second Circuit standing committees, and committees where Feinberg was not a member can be found in Subseries IV.1.

The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules and Federal Courts Study Committee were under the aegis of the Judicial Conference. The Advisory Committee on Experimentation in the Law, Advisory Council for Appellate Justice, and Committee on Future Needs and Practices were sponsored by the Federal Judicial Center. Materials in this subseries include clippings, correspondence and memoranda, drafts, meeting minutes, programs, reports, and statistics. Within each file, materials are arranged reverse-chronologically.

Feinberg maintained a subject file for points of law, arranged alphabetically by topic, where he filed offprints of case rulings responsive to the topic. The bulk of the offprints come from Second Circuit decisions, but other courts are represented. Many of the labeled folders are empty but have been retained to maintain Feinberg's research system. In addition to offprints, folders occasionally include carbons of Feinberg's opinions and notes.

This subseries includes copies of rules and amendments that govern the functioning of the court system as a whole, the Second Circuit specifically, and the Circuit's bankruptcy and district courts. The subseries is divided into nine files, one for each set of rules (five federal, three circuit, and one local by district) and within each file folders are arranged numerically by rule number.

The Committee to Study the Judicial Conference was created shortly after William Rehnquist was confirmed as Chief Justice. Materials in this subseries include correspondence, drafts, meeting agendas, meeting programs, and reports. This subseries is arranged reverse-chronologically.

The Judicial Conference is made up of the Chief Justice, the Chief Judges of each circuit, and representatives from the district and trade courts. The Conference meets twice a year to discuss procedure and policy within the court system, and following the full conference the Chief Judges of the circuits have a separate meeting. Feinberg served as Chief Judge from 1980 through 1988 and therefore was a member of the Conference for that period. He also received courtesy copies of reports and correspondence both before and after his tenure as Chief Judge.

This subseries includes correspondence, meeting agendas (each with sizable appendices containing reports from court committees and administrative offices), meeting minutes, reports, and research materials. Within each file, materials are arranged reverse-chronologically

The Long Range Planning Committee was created by the Judicial Conference in response to the recommendations of the Federal Courts Study Committee. In addition to Judge Feinberg, the committee consisted of three other appellate judges, three district judges, a bankruptcy judge, and a magistrate. Created in 1990 the committee published its formally approved plan in December 1995 after a multi-phase process of meetings, research, reports, and requests for comment. There now exists within the Administrative Office of the United States Courts a permanent Long-Range Planning Office that accounts for subseries correspondence between 1996 and 2007.

This subseries includes correspondence (both between committee members and among the wider judicial system and affiliated groups and professions), meeting agendas, research materials, subcommittee reports, and the proposed Long Range Plan for the Federal Courts that was submitted for public comment and Judicial Conference approval. The approved Long Range Plan for the Federal Courts is not included, but a PDF is available here on the United States Court website.

Within each file, materials are arranged reverse-chronologically.

Feinberg was a member of the New York City Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, and the American Bar Association, and all three groups are represented in this subseries. Maintaining his original order, the subseries is divided by document type, and each section includes items from all of the bar organizations. Records in this subseries include admissions and membership records (although his first admissions are in Series I), correspondence, programs, reports, and workshop and educational materials.

Within each file, records are arranged reverse-chronologically.

The Federal Judicial Center, formed in 1967, is the official educational organization for the federal courts. While materials from Feinberg's service on Federal Judicial Center committees is in Subseries IV.2, this subseries includes educational and research material from FJC conferences and workshops. Records consist of agendas, correspondence, manuals, programs, research publication, and reports. Records are divided into three files by document type, maintaining Feinberg's original order, and arranged reverse-chronologically.

This subseries collects records from a number of lesser professional groups and organizations. It consists of various biographical directories and judicial almanacs that included entries on Feinberg, along with twelve non-profit and continuing education groups that Feinberg occasionally participated in. Materials are primarily correspondence (including form renewals and questionnaires) and meeting and conference programs. The subseries is arranged alphabetically by organization name, then reverse-chronologically.

Columbia College is one of the two undergraduate schools at Columbia University. Feinberg graduated from Columbia College in 1940 and remained active in the alumni association, serving on the Board of Directors. Records in this subseries include clippings, correspondence, meeting agendas, memoranda, minutes, reports, reunion programs, and statistics. Materials are arranged reverse-chronologically.

Feinberg enrolled in Columbia Law School in 1940 and, after a three year break for his Army service, graduated in 1946. While at Columbia Law School he was the editor-in-chief of the Law Review and after graduating became active in the alumni association. Throughout his career, he made sure that one of his two law clerks was a Columbia Law School graduate. He served on the Columbia Law School Alumni Association Board of Directors and was a member of the nomination committee for the Medal for Excellence. Of particular note is the file on the Feinberg Prize and Scholarship, which includes material on the Wilfred Feinberg Prize (established 1998) and Wilfred Feinberg Scholarship in Law (established 2010), both created by some of Feinberg's former law clerks.

Records include agendas, clippings, correspondence, memoranda, programs, and reports. Within each file, materials are arranged reverse-chronologically.

This subseries includes Columbia-related material that is not specific to Columbia College or Columbia Law School. The subseries is divided into three sections: Alumni Federation; Correspondence with President Lee Bollinger; and Maurice Rosenberg. Within each section materials are arranged reverse-chronologically.

The Alumni Federation (superseded by the Columbia Alumni Association in 2005) is the umbrella alumni group responsible for Columbia University as a whole and materials in this file include clippings, correspondence, and meeting programs.

Lee Bollinger, the 19th President of Columbia University, is a fellow Columbia Law School alumnus, and one of Feinberg's law clerks (1971-1972). Although Feinberg and Bollinger kept in touch throughout the years, Feinberg's dedicated correspondence file was created in 2002, after Bollinger's inauguration as President of Columbia University.

Maurice Rosenberg was a classmate of Feinberg's at Columbia Law School and then a professor there for almost forty years. He and Feinberg were close (Rosenberg wrote "Chief Judge Wilfred Feinberg: A Twenty-Fifth Year Tribute" for theColumbia Law Reviewin 1986), although the bulk of their personal correspondence can be found in Subseries IX.3. The Rosenberg materials include letters of nomination and recommendation from Feinberg regarding Rosenberg's consideration for a variety of awards, correspondence and programs from Rosenberg's memorial service in 1995, and records relating to the Maurice Rosenberg Memorial Lecture established at Columbia in 1996.

This subseries consists of biographical and autobiographical information collected by Feinberg. The subseries includes four sections. Bibliographies and CVs include autobiographical blurbs, biographical directory forms, publication lists, and resumes from throughout Feinberg's career. The section also includes Feinberg's high school diploma, Columbia transcripts, and government disclosure forms from his tenure as New York State Deputy Superintendent of Banks. The day planners date from the last few years of Feinberg's judicial service, but primarily detail outside appointments. There is a substantive file for honors, which include Feinberg's high school diploma along with professional recognitions like the Devitt Award, the Learned Hand Medal, and honorary doctorates from Columbia and Syracuse. The lists of noteworthy rulings, arranged by year and compiled by his law clerks, is of particular note. Within each file, materials are arranged reverse-chronologically.

This subseries includes Feinberg's records of his extracurricular business activities. Much of it is related to tax rules and suburban property investments from the 1950s, but the subseries also includes information on Feinberg's political activity as a Democratic booster in Westchester in the 1950s and 1960s. Also in this subseries are catalogs, correspondence, and programs from the Feinberg Graduate School, part of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, and established by Feinberg's brother Abraham. Although the Feinberg Graduate School was Abraham Feinberg's project, Wilfred Feinberg did visit Israel for the dedication and received material from the school throughout the years.

This subseries makes up the bulk of Series IX. Although there is correspondence represented in almost every subseries in the collection, Subseries IX.3 collects a number of correspondence files that Feinberg maintained separately. The largest is Feinberg's file of Personal Correspondence, which includes correspondence from classmates, colleagues, family, friends, and law clerks. Although correspondence from fellow judges is interfiled in Personal Correspondence, Feinberg also created a file for Unofficial Correspondence with Judges that has been kept separate to maintain his original arrangement. Of particular note is the file for Judge Henry Friendly Biographies, which includes interview transcripts from two book projects on Feinberg's former colleague. Other files in Subseries IX.3 are Invitations; Law Clerks; Letters of Reference; and Mayor's Office. This subseries is arranged reverse-chronologically.

In late 1996 and early 1997, the law professor and legal historian Jeffrey Morris met with Feinberg to complete a detailed oral history. The six meetings were divided roughly by topic, and dealt with Feinberg's biography, his former colleagues on the bench, his work in judicial administration, the history of the circuit, and important cases he decided. The subseries includes approved final copies of the interview transcripts as well as drafts and annotated and corrected transcript copies. There is also correspondence between Morris and Feinberg's chambers. The recordings of the interviews themselves are available on thirteen audiocassettes.

This subseries includes most of the photographs in the collection, although a few photographs from Feinberg's judicial appointment in 1961 can be found in Subseries II.4. There is a small collection of correspondence related to the photographs, primarily letters of enclosure and court announcements of official portraits. The subseries also includes negatives and a CD with snapshots in .jpeg format (although the photos are also represented in the subseries as prints).

The photographs include official portraits of Feinberg and the court and informal snapshots of Feinberg and his wife and colleagues at a variety of events, including a number of photographs from Columbia reunions. Aside from the folder of related correspondence, the photographs are arranged by event (if known) and filed chronologically.

Although files of clippings can be found throughout the collection, this subseries consists of the separate clippings file that Feinberg maintained. All clippings have been preservation photocopied and arranged chronologically. The subseries also includes Feinberg's lists of newspaper and press contacts for his personal use and public relations material produced by the Second Circuit, primarily press releases.