I was sad to hear that Judge John Noonan passed away recently. Though I know he was a towering figure on the Ninth Circuit, I am much more familiar with his work before he went on the bench -- his work as a legal historian while teaching at Berkeley. I am a big fan of two of his books, Persons and Masks of the Law (which deals in part with one of my heroes on the bench, George Wythe) and also his book on The Antelope, which is an absolutely fascinating case for so, so many reasons -- not the least of which was the lottery run by the trial judge to determine who would be freed and who would be kept in slavery.
Anyway, my friend Diane Amann at the University of Georgia has an extended post about her appearance before Judge Noonan when she was a federal defender, which I know you will enjoy.
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