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Florence Ellinwood Allen (March 23, 1884 – September 12, 1966) was aUnited States federal judge on theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1934-1959.[1] Allen served on theSupreme Court of Ohio from 1922 until 1934.[1] She was the first woman to serve on astate supreme court, and the second woman to serve as aUnited States federal judge.[1] In 2005, she was inducted into theNational Women's Hall of Fame.[2]
Florence E. Allen was born on March 23, 1884, inSalt Lake City,Utah, the daughter ofClarence Emir Allen Sr., a mine manager and later aUnited States Representative from Utah, and his wife Corinne Marie, née Tuckerman.[3] She was one of seven children—five girls, one of whom died in infancy, and two boys.[3] Her family valued community activism and education.[4] Allen's father, aprofessor andlinguist, moved the family fromSalt Lake City,Utah toCleveland,Ohio to teach at Western Reserve University, now known asCase Western Reserve University.[5]
Florence Allen grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. Her father taught herGreek andLatin as a child.[5] Allen also studied music and poetry growing up.[6] Allen attended the New Lyme Institute inAshtabula, Ohio. Afterwards, Allen attended Western Reserve, nowCase Western Reserve University, majoring in music.[7] Allen graduated in 1904 with aBachelor of Arts degree.[3] Her father then sent her toBerlin to continue her musical studies.[8] While inBerlin, she worked as a correspondent for a New York magazine called theMusical Courier.[3] Her original plan was to become a concert pianist, but she sustained an injury that cut her music career short.[9] She returned to Ohio in 1906 and took a job inCleveland,Ohio as the music critic forThe Plain Dealer newspaper until 1909.[7]
By this time, Allen had an increasing interest in politics and law which led her to pursue aMaster of Arts degree inpolitical science from Western Reserve, nowCase Western Reserve University. She completed herMaster of Arts degree in 1908.[9] She took courses inconstitutional law, but at that time, Western Reserve's law school did not admit women so she was unable to pursue a law degree. Determined to have a legal career, Allen took special classes and tutorials.[3] She attended law school at theUniversity of Chicago for a year and then transferred toNew York University School of Law. To pay her tuition, she worked as a legal investigator and researcher for the New York League for the Protection of Immigrants.[5] In 1913, she received herBachelor of Laws degree graduating with honors. She returned toCleveland, Ohio, and Allen was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1914.[9]
By her own admission, she was not a success at first. She only made about $25 during her first month, and all she could afford for her office was two chairs and a borrowed typewriter.[8] As she told a reporter in a 1934 interview, "I had no clients. And I had no money. But I had great hopes."[10] However, in order to become successful, what she needed was some experience, so she did volunteer work with the localLegal Aid Society of Cleveland, where she not only got that experience but got involved with an important case about suffrage.[5]
As a child, her mother had taken her to see famous suffragistsSusan B. Anthony andAnna Howard Shaw giving talks about women's rights.[3] And the belief that women should be treated as equals under the law undoubtedly resonated with her even more as a result of her struggles to be taken seriously as an attorney. She became even more interested in politics, and more committed to the cause of women's suffrage. She was active in the Women's Suffrage Party and began challenging local laws that limited women's participation in the political process. And she argued one particular case that went all the way to theOhio Supreme Court: thanks to her efforts, she won the women ofEast Cleveland the right to vote in municipal elections.[11] During this time, she also became involved in another cause, one that would be important to her all of her life: disarmament and the quest for world peace. For Allen, this was personal: both of her brothers died while serving their country during the First World War.[10]
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Once she won a few cases and gained the respect of her male colleagues,[8] her career flourished. In 1919, she was appointed the assistant prosecuting attorney for Cleveland'sCuyahoga County. An activeDemocrat, she nevertheless encountered opposition from Democratic party chairman Burr Gongwer. However, the appointment was approved and she became the first woman in Ohio to hold such a position. She then began bringing cases before the grand jury. She also continued to advocate women's rights, even giving talks about her devotion to the Democratic party and the political process.[12]
By 1920, Allen won election as a Court of Common Pleas judge on a non-partisan ticket.[13] She was the first woman in this position. Allen resisted her colleagues' efforts to assign her to a special divorce division within the court. Instead, Allen insisted on hearing the court's full range of cases under its jurisdiction, and during her time on the bench she tried nearly 900 cases.[13] Undoubtedly, her biggest challenge was a case involving gangster Frank Motto, who was convicted of the murder of two men during a robbery. With women on the jury and a woman judge, legal critics wondered whether the stereotype about women being emotional, and thus lenient, would come into play, but it did not.[14] Motto was convicted, and in mid-May 1921, Allen sentenced Motto to the electric chair.[6]
In November 1922, Allen became the first women to reach a state high court bench when she was elected to theOhio Supreme Court.[13] While most celebrated Allen's election, a former Ohio mayor spoke publicly on his doubt concerning Allen's eligibility to serve on the bench.[13] Allen immediately told reporters that she intended to keep partisan politics out of the judiciary.[7]
In 1928, Allen was re-elected to a second six-year term on the Ohio Supreme Court. All of the winners in that election were Republicans except for her.[15] She continued to be a popular figure in Ohio, honored by numerous civic groups for her fair-mindedness;[16] and lawyers who came before her praised her willingness to listen.[6] And while she was not afraid to make the difficult decisions, even on death penalty cases, Allen was not just a "law and order" judge.
She was also a mentor, who encouraged young women to become lawyers. She continued to give educational talks about the law, and she worked tirelessly to improve women's legal rights.[14] She was a proponent of jury service for women, at a time when many states still did not allow women to serve, and she continued to encourage women to be politically active even while remaining non-partisan herself.[6] By 1930, her reputation was so positive that some newspapers were suggesting that she be nominated for a seat on the United States Supreme Court. Among them was theChristian Science Monitor, which praised Allen for her "distinguished achievements" as a jurist.[17]
A pacifist, Allen was an opponent of war and argued that the only way to avoid war was to outlaw it. War must be made outlawed and declared a crime, she said. She also called for the establishment of an international court that has jurisdiction over purely international disputes and that international law should be codified on the basis of equity and right.[18]
PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt nominated Allen on March 6, 1934, to a seat on theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit vacated by JudgeSmith Hickenlooper.[19] The sitting male judges vigorously opposed Allen’s appointment, telling FBI background investigators that she was as a woman she was "naturally unqualified" and its report reflects that sentiment. The judges protested that appointing a woman would lower their standards and make them a laughingstock.[20]
She was confirmed by theUnited States Senate on March 15, 1934, and received her commission on March 21, 1934.[19] She was the second woman to serve in the federal judiciary and the first woman to serve as anArticle III federal judge.[3]Genevieve R. Cline was earlier appointed to serve as anArticle I federal judge on theUnited States Customs Court.[21] Allen's nomination to the prestigious position received widespread praise. Newspaper articles described Allen as "an able jurist" and a "profound student" of the law.[11] Allen served on the federal bench for twenty-five years, serving her last year as the first woman Chief Justice from 1958 to 1959.[13][19] She was a member of theJudicial Conference of the United States in 1958.[19] She assumedsenior status on October 5, 1959.[19] Her service terminated with her death on September 12, 1966.[19]
Allen continued her ongoing advocacy of women's rights. She was a member of the National Association of Business and Professional Women, and spoke at several of their conventions,[22] and was a member of the National Association of Women Lawyers.[14] Allen continued to advocate an end to wars. In 1935, she was one of ten "outstanding American women", withEleanor Roosevelt andfeminist leaderCarrie Chapman Catt, to contribute toWhy Wars Must Cease. In her essay, Allen asserted that wars "unleash demoralizing instincts" such as "callousness, cynicism, and greed." She said they also contribute to numerous social problems, including the break-up of families, and increases in crime.[23]
The press continued to speculate on Allen as a possible Supreme Court nominee.[24] In early 1939, when Supreme Court JusticeLouis D. Brandeis was about to retire, some of Allen's supporters tried to persuade President Roosevelt that it was time to name a woman, and they reminded the president that Allen was extremely qualified. Chief among advocates on her behalf wasLillian D. Rock, former vice president of the National Association of Women Lawyers and chair of a newly created committee whose purpose was to encourage the appointment of more women to important positions in government.[25] Allen was not named to the Supreme Court, however, and it was another male judge,William O. Douglas, who replaced Justice Brandeis. For the next few years, every time a vacancy occurred, Allen's supporters would again suggest her, but to no avail.[26]
On the Circuit Court, Sixth Circuit, she heard cases fromOhio,Michigan,Kentucky, andTennessee. In 1940, she wroteThis Constitution of Ours. Even afterWorld War II broke out, Allen remained steadfast in her determination to work for peace. She continued speaking and gave talks both in person and on radio. In 1944, the National Association of Women lawyers put her name forth as someone who should be involved in international peace negotiations.[27] When the war ended, she continued to speak to civic groups, especially women's clubs. Her message was that relying on theUnited Nations would not prevent the next war. It was essential for individual citizens to keep demanding that each country—whether large or small—have respect for the rule of law. "To secure peace, there must be justice," she told 3,000 attendees at a conference of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs. "There cannot be justice unless there is a rebirth of moral principle among the nations. There cannot be a rebirth of moral principle unless the conscience of the peoples becomes articulate."[28]
Allen herself remained a very articulate spokeswoman on the issues she cared about. She was regarded as such a credible figure that in 1947, the American Academy of Political and Social Science asked her to do a study of women's voting patterns, to offer her assessment of whether women were in fact using the franchise, and whether they were active in the political process.[29] In later talks, Allen expressed the opinion that while many women were in fact voting and speaking out on issues, there was a generational shift taking place. The dynamic women leaders who had fought for suffrage and brought about greater participation for women in other areas of public life were now deceased, and they had not yet been replaced. She expressed concern about this lack of new and dynamic leadership, and hoped new leaders would emerge.[29]
Allen's supporters again sought to have her appointed to theUnited States Supreme Court duringHarry S. Truman's presidency, but Truman seemed to be opposed to having a woman sitting on the highest court of the land. Allen was later told that Truman's reluctance to appoint her had to do with his belief that having a woman around would make the male judges uncomfortable. "They say they couldn't sit around with their robes off and their feet up and discuss the problems."[30] Truman's reluctance to appoint a woman extended to other venues. When there were more than 20 Federal court vacancies, his original list of nominees was all male; only after some influential women politicians protested, the president named one woman,Burnita Shelton Matthews, to the bench of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 1949.[31] After her retirement, she continued to do speaking engagements and began working on her autobiography. It was calledTo Do Justly, and was published in the autumn of 1965.[3]
In declining health after falling and breaking her hip, Allen died on September 12, 1966, inWaite Hill, Ohio, where she had been living with a distant cousin since her retirement.[citation needed]
In 2005, Allen was inducted into theNational Women's Hall of Fame.[32]
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| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Associate Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court 1923–1934 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit 1934–1959 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chief Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit 1958–1959 | Succeeded by |
