As the United States marks in 2011, the 150-year anniversary of the start of the Civil War that so tested the nation, it must be noted that the long and bloody fight had a similar effect on the federal court system and its judges – a tearing at the very fabric of American justice.
It has been recorded for posterity that many future judges saw military duty during the war, on both sides and it is believed many judges resigned from their lifetime appointments and joined the judiciary of another nation, the Confederate States of America. Others became judges under extraordinary circumstances.
In a series of postings, the Court News looks at some of their personal stories. This second posting in the series focuses on U.S. District Judge Thomas Boynton in the Southern District of Florida.
It is said when Florida seceded in early 1861, the city of Key West – at the southern tip of the Confederacy – remained a Unionist stronghold. U.S. District Judge William Marvin, a New York native, presided until his 1863 resignation despite many suspicions that he harbored Southern sympathies.
Vigilance gathered that in the book From Local Courts to National Tribunals, authors Kermit Hall and Eric Rise tell how replacing Marvin presented President Lincoln with a distinct problem. His first two appointees to the job never arrived in Key West to hold court. On October 13, 1863, Thomas Boynton, the local district attorney, wrote to Washington and urged that the Southern District backlog of cases be eased by letting a Northern District of Florida judge preside over them.
Worthy of note is the fact that soon thereafter; Boynton received a recess appointment to the job from Lincoln. The President nominated Boynton to the same position in early 1864, and he was confirmed by the Senate.
He was believed to be 25 when his bench service began, and remains the youngest person ever appointed to an Article III judgeship. He served until 1870, when he resigned in poor health.