Chief Judge Harvey M. Johnsen - A Prophet with Honor

Abstract

FIRST PARAGRAPH(S)|In early 1984, initial steps were taken to preserve historical material concerning the activities of the federal courts in Nebraska. Video-taped interviews dealing with the observations of Senior United States District Judges Richard Robinson and Robert Van Pelt were conducted by Dr. Richard Shugrue, Professor of Law at the Creighton University College of Law. The tapes are being edited for further use. More recently, Richard E. Peck, former Court Clerk and United States Magistrate, was interviewed. |The following vignette on the life and times of Harvey M. Johnsen, former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit was conceived as part of an effort to develop a written history of the federal courts in Nebraska. Research into the activities of Judge Johnsen convinces me that we have not done a good job of preserving recollections and the papers necessary to prepare a fully documented presentation on the lives of some of our illustrious forbearers. |Thus, the work of the newly created Historical Society of the United States Courts in the Eighth Circuit assumes added dimensions. In this vein, it is hoped that this partially anecdotal article on the life of Judge Johnsen will be the first in a series of contributions by various persons on the lives of the individuals who, in the past, helped drive the machinery of the federal courts in this area. |I gratefully acknowledge the substantial participation of Melinda Hess in the research and drafting of this article. Melinda, my senior law clerk and former branch librarian for the Eighth Circuit in Omaha, did much of the research and interviewing and helped prepare an initial draft of the piece...