John B. Sanborn Jr.

John Benjamin Sanborn Jr. (November 9, 1883 - March 7, 1964) was a lawyer, politician, and United States federal judge from the state of Minnesota. His record of public service spanned more than fifty years.

Early life and education

Sanborn was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. His father, the elder John B. Sanborn, had served as a high-ranking Union Army General in the American Civil War, as well as an influential member of the Minnesota House of Representatives and Minnesota Senate. Sanborn graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1905 and William Mitchell College of Law (then the St. Paul College of Law) in 1907.

Career

John Sanborn Jr. ca. 1915

After his graduation from law school, Sanborn practiced intermittently in St. Paul for fifteen years. Part of that time was spent with the firm owned by future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Pierce Butler and future U.S. Attorney General William D. Mitchell.^[1] Sanborn also followed in his father's footsteps by serving in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1913 to 1915. Two years later, he re-entered government service when Governor Joseph A. A. Burnquist appointed him state Comptroller of Insurance. He held the position until 1920, interrupted briefly by a one-year stint in the U.S. Army. Afterward, he left the Comptroller's office to serve on the Minnesota Tax Commission.

Sanborn's judicial career began in 1922, when he was appointed to the Ramsey County District Court. Three years later, President Calvin Coolidge selected him for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. At the time, his older cousin Walter Henry Sanborn was already serving as a judge on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. The two soon became known as the "Hands of the Eighth Circuit", after their famous contemporaries serving on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Sanborn had been considered as a replacement for his cousin in 1928, and again in 1929, but it wasn't until 1932, at the end of his term, that President Herbert Hoover nominated Sanborn for a seat on the Eighth Circuit. Sanborn served on the court for thirty-two years, assuming senior status in 1959 and continuing to hear cases until his death in 1964. The Eighth Circuit has sometimes been referred to as "The Sanborn Court," as John and Walter Henry's service spanned seventy-two years, currently more than half of the court's entire history.

During his time on the bench, he remained active in the community, particularly with his alma mater. Sanborn served as a Trustee of the St. Paul College of Law from 1935 to 1959, including a term as President, from 1949 to 1956. He also played an active role in the merger that officially created William Mitchell College of Law.^[2]

Sanborn's first law clerk after his appointment to the Eighth Circuit was future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun. Later, he and Warren E. Burger were instrumental in advocating for Blackmun's appointment to replace Sanborn on the Eighth Circuit.

References

1. Jeffrey Brandon Morris, Establishing Justice in Middle America, 109.
2. Biography of John B. Sanborn from the William Mitchell College of Law. Archived September 2, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.

External links

• John B. Sanborn Jr. at Find a Grave