View source for U.S. Permanent Committee for the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise

The '''U.S. Permanent Committee for the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise''' is a committee established by [[United States Congress|Congress]] in 1955 after the late [[Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. | Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.]] bequeathed a portion of his estate to the United States in 1935. The Congress used the gift to establish the Committee to document and disseminate the history of the Court. The Committee is composed of five members - the [[Librarian of Congress]] and four additional members appointed by the [[President of the United States | President]] to serve eight-year terms.<ref name="LOC2015">{{cite web |title=Constitutional Scholar Maeva Marcus to Edit Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise Supreme Court History Series |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-15-207/constitutional-scholar-maeva-marcus-to-edit-oliver-wendell-holmes-devise-supreme-court-history-series/2015-11-13/ |website=Library of Congress |publisher=Library of Congress |accessdate=24 October 2020}}</ref> As of October 2020, the Commission has published ten volumes detailing the history of the Supreme Court.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of the Supreme Court of the United States series (catalog record) |url=https://lccn.loc.gov/78030454 |website=Library of Congress catalog |publisher=Library of Congress |accessdate=24 October 2020}}</ref>
== History ==
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, died on March 6, 1935; his will contained the following residuary clause,
<blockquote>“All of the rest, residue and remainder of my property of whatsoever nature, wheresoever situate, of which I may die seized and possessed, or in which I may have an interest at the time of my death, I give, devise, and bequeath to the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.”<ref>{{cite web |title=Annual Report of the Permanent Committee for the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise, 1956-57 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102723594 |website=HathiTrust |publisher=Government Printing Office |accessdate=25 October 2020}}</ref></blockquote>
The value of the bequest was roughly $263,000 at the time of Holmes's death and it was President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt | Franklin Roosevelt]] who recommended the gift be used to document and promote the law. In 1938 a committee of three Congressmen, three Senators, and three Supreme Court members recommended four options for the gift. The options were: (1) establish a collection of legal literature in the Library of Congress, (2) turning Holmes residence into a permanent memorial, (3) publishing Holmes writings, or (4) creating a memorial park in Washington dedicated to Holmes. Congress approved the third and fourth recommendations in 1940, however, World War II pre-empted execution of the plans. The matter was finalized in 1955 with [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-69/pdf/STATUTE-69-Pg533.pdf Public Law 84-246] which established the Permanent Committee for the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise to publish an official history of the Supreme Court. The Committee has four members appointed by the President as recommended by the [[Association of American Law Schools]], the [[American Philosophical Society]], the [[American Historical Association]], and the [[Association of American Universities]], with the Librarian of Congress serving as ''ex officio'' chairperson.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Christie |first1=George C. |title=First Two Volumes of Holmes Devise History of the United States Supreme Court Are Published |journal=American Bar Association Journal |date=May 1972 |volume=58 |pages=494-497 |url=https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2412&context=faculty_scholarship |accessdate=25 October 2020}}</ref> The series has not been published in volume order. The first published were ''Volume 1: Antecedents and beginnings to 1801'' and ''Volume 6: Reconstruction and reunion, 1864-88'' in 1971. Published in 2023, the most recent history is ''Volume 10: The Taft Court''. A volume covering the [[Earl Warren]] court was expected in 2017, but has yet to be published.<ref name="LOC2015"/>
== Bibliography ==
''History of the Supreme Court of the United States series'':
* Goebel, Julius (1971). ''Volume 1: Antecedents and beginnings to 1801''. New York: Macmillan. https://lccn.loc.gov/95199411
* [[George Haskins | Haskins, George Lee]], and Herbert Alan Johnson (1981). ''Volume 2: Foundations of power, John Marshall, 1801-15''. New York: Macmillan. https://lccn.loc.gov/95200554
* [[G. Edward White|White, G. Edward]], and Gerald Gunther (1988). ''Volumes 3 - 4: The Marshall Court and cultural change, 1815-35''. New York: Macmillan. https://lccn.loc.gov/95199926
* Swisher, Carl Brent (1974). ''Volume 5: The Taney period, 1836-64''. New York: Macmillan. https://lccn.loc.gov/72093318
* Fairman, Charles (1971). ''Volume 6: Reconstruction and reunion, 1864-88, Part 1''. New York: Macmillan. [Later expanded and combined with ''Volume 7'' in 1987] https://www.loc.gov/item/library-publications/reconstruction-and-reunion-1864-1888-2/
* Fairman, Charles (1987). ''Volumes 6 - 7: Reconstruction and reunion, 1864-88''. New York: Macmillan. https://lccn.loc.gov/70169254
* [[Owen M. Fiss | Fiss, Owen M.]] (1993). ''Volume 8: Troubled beginnings of the modern state, 1888-1910''. New York: Macmillan. https://lccn.loc.gov/93018238
* [[Alexander Bickel|Bickel, Alexander M.]], and Benno C. Schmidt (1984). ''Volume 9: The judiciary and responsible government, 1910-21''. New York: Macmillan. https://lccn.loc.gov/85136233
* [[Robert Post (law professor)|Post, Robert]]. (2023). ''Volume 10: The Taft Court: Making Law for a Divided Nation, 1921–1930.'' New York: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009336246
* [[Mark Tushnet|Tushnet, Mark V.]] (2022). ''Volume 11: The Hughes Court: From Progressivism to Pluralism, 1930 to 1941''. New York: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009031141
* Wiecek, William M. (2006). ''Volume 12: The birth of the modern Constitution, the United States Supreme Court, 1941-1953''. New York: Cambridge University Press. https://lccn.loc.gov/2004028548
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:Law of the United States]]