Interview with former Michigan Supreme Court Clerk Harold Hoag

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Description:

Part 1: Harold Hoag shares stories of his time as Deputy Clerk and Clerk of the Michigan Supreme Court between 1967 and 1982. Hoag talks about deciding to become a lawyer while in the Navy, his law school experience, the role of the law clerk in the judicial process,and the Supreme Court Justices he served under, and how they dealt with cases and how he interacted with each. He also discusses the effect the addition of female justices had on the Court, the law in general, and the history of law enforcement in the United States. Hoag ends by reminiscing about his parents and his childhood. Part 2: Harold Hoag, clerk and Deputy Clerk of the Michigan Supreme Court talks about the duties of the clerk, his desire to conduct his office in as apolitical a manner as possible, the partisan nature of the court, shepherding cases through the system and assigning them to the justices by lottery, hiring his own assistant when the case load became to much to bear, and playing "gatekeeper" in the face of the appeals process. Hoag says that the justices have become more like "CEOs and less like judges" as the work load has increased and they have been forced to bring in more clerks and other staff to manage the extreme caseloads. Hoag concludes by recalling the women justices with whom he worked and his legal training at the University of Michigan, and explaining how he came to the Michigan Supreme Court.

Date Created:

2006-03-27T00:00:00Z

Data Provider:

Michigan State University. Libraries

Collection:

Interviews with Michigan State Supreme Court Justices

Place:

Michigan, Michigan, Lansing, Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Lansing, Michigan, Michigan, Michigan, and United States

Subject Topic:

Officials and employees, Law clerks, Career in practice of law, Court administration, Knowledge, Law, Law, Study and teaching, Interpersonal relations, Judges, Judicial process, Women judges, Law enforcement, and History

Subject Name:

Hoag, Harold, Michigan, Supreme Court, Hoag, Harold, Michigan, Supreme Court, and Hoag, Harold

Subject Genre:

Interviews, Interviews, and Interviews

Language:

English

Rights:

In Copyright

URL:

https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m58p5v90k