Dividing Western Waters by August Jack L.;

Author:August, Jack L.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TCU Press
Published: 2007-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Frank Snell and Mark Wilmer at the wedding reception of Edwin and Genevieve Hendricks, August 10, 1963. Wilmer Family Photo Collection.

When questioned later about arguing the case before the U.S. Supreme Court he corrected, “Twice.” When pressed why he went to the Supreme Court a second time to argue before the justices he said, “Well, I don’t know, they don’t state grounds, you know. We briefed it, Charlie [Reed], Burr Sutter . . . Bill Meagher from a New York firm who was invaluable in briefing”; the case also participated between 1958 and 1960. “Anyway,” Wilmer continued, “we spent the summer up in Prescott writing the brief to the Master and then of course we had to reply to California briefs and they replied to ours. And then it was all submitted to the Special Master but not argued to him. And then he . . . announced his preliminary opinion. . . . This authorized us to file objections and so on, which we did. And, California, of course, filed a jillion of them. We went back to New York and argued that [the objections] for a day or two days. Then he took it back under advisement and then he filed his final report. And then we set about briefing that to the Supreme Court which was again another three months, four months job.”52

Wilmer’s reflections on his time arguing before the Supreme Court, especially the unusual process of a second hearing, added another fascinating dimension to the case. “Earl Warren was Chief Justice and because he was from California he recused himself and [Hugo L.] Black became acting Chief Justice. And we argued it the first time for three or four or five days, maybe. . . . They gave us an ungodly amount of time. And it was taken under advisement. . . . the labor lawyer [Justice Arthur] Goldberg was very friendly. We had a friendly court in one sense, except for this guy [Justice William O. Douglas], a horse’s ass. The guy that was always going up to Oregon and dancing around with young girls. . . . but a capable lawyer. Douglas. But he gave us some trouble and . . . apparently the Court was not satisfied and they took it under advisement. . . . So then it was resubmitted again in October [actually mid-November], I guess it was, for again a three or four or five-day argument.”53

When asked later about opposition counsel for California, Wilmer was forthcoming with his opinions. “Oh, sure I remember him. He was an Arizona boy, Northcutt Ely. He was a hell of a lawyer; a hard worker, and a nitpicker. . . . They [California] had a whole goddamned building of engineers and lawyers back there at San Francisco. I went over one time to inquire as to somebody and they sent me down to the switchboard to find out where the hell he was, what office he was in . . . there on Market Street.

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