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

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.