Thomas Boyd's biographical profile of Walter H. Sanborn, one of Minnesota's most distinguished lawyers and jurists, was published in the Summer 1991 issue of "Ramsey County History." It is posted here.
Walter Henry Sanborn came to St. Paul in 1870 to join his uncle, General John B. Sanborn, in his law practice. He succeeded in private practice, served on the City Council, and was appointed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1892 by President Benjamin Harrison. There he made his greatest mark in antitrust law, voting to break up James J. Hill's and J. P. Morgan's Northern Securities Trust, and later writing the opinion that ordered the dismantling of Standard Oil. Boyd writes, "The Standard Oil decision was the first meaningful application of the Sherman Antitrust Act and Judge Sanborn's opinion was widely hailed as a milestone that ushered in a new era." He died in 1928. His nephew, John B. Sanborn Jr., followed him to the Eighth Circuit in 1932, serving there until 1964.
Thomas Boyd's portrait of Judge Walter Sanborn is a companion to his lengthy biographical study of Judge John B. Sanborn, Jr., published in the "William Mitchell Law Review" in 1997, and posted separately on this website. They paint portraits of two remarkable jurists and their influence on the development of federal law from the 1890s to the 1960s.
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