Digital Bob Archive

The process for confirming appointees to the federal bench is now familiar, through TV and other media, to many Alaskans. It is fair to say, however, that few know that the reappointment of a popular Alaska judge was once kicked around for nearly four years by the Senate, which then failed to vote on his confirmation.

James Wickersham was originally appointed by President William McKinley on June 6, 1900, as judge for the old Third Judicial Division. His headquarters were first at Eagle, then at Fairbanks, and he held court also at Valdez and at Nome where he was sent to clean up the famous Spoilers affair. Many of the cases he heard had to do with mining and in many instances his decisions favored the individual miners and small operators over the big corporations.

When Wickersham's four-year term ended, President Theodore Roosevelt reappointed him and sent his name to the Senate where it was referred to the Judiciary Committee. There was immediate opposition. Some of it came from the Alexander McKenzie machine which had carried on the Spoilers operation at Nome and which had influence in the Senate. Some was from corporations against which Wickersham had ruled in mining cases.

Much of the opposition was hidden from the public because the Judiciary Committee did most of its work in executive session and the few reports it issued were marked \"confidential.\" And even when the committee once gave Wickersham a 6-4 favorable vote, the entire Senate went into executive session to consider it and, after a filibuster was threatened, failed to vote.

What kept Wickersham on the bench during those years despite the Senate's inaction were recess appointments by the President. Recess appointments were made possible by the fact that Congress, in those easy-going years, was in session relatively briefly. For example, during the 24 months of its existence, the 58th Congress met only three times for a total of nine and a half months. When the Senate recessed without acting, the President gave Wickersham a recess appointment. He made eight such appointments before Wickersham gave up trying to get reconfirmed.

Dirty tricks played a part, too. Among the mining cases that Wickersham was to hear at Fairbanks were several involving claims on nearby Dome Creek. The U.S. Attorney General was anonymously advised that Wickersham himself owned claims on Dome Creek and so had a conflict of interest he was trying to conceal. Examination of the mining records seemed to confirm the fact, but investigation disclosed that someone unknown had gone to an unnamed creek a hundred miles from Fairbanks, staked eight claims, named it Dome Creek, and recorded the claims in Wickersham's name.

In order to avoid any color of impropriety, Wickersham welcomed a chance to trade places temporarily with Judge Royal Gunnison of Juneau. Next week: The trouble he got into at Juneau.