Simon Sobeloff

Simon Ernest Sobeloff (December 3, 1894 – July 11, 1973) was an American attorney and jurist, who served as Solicitor General of the United States, as Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals of Maryland, and as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Education and career

Sobeloff was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Jacob and Mary Hilda (Kaplan) Sobeloff, who were Russian Jewish immigrants. He served as a Page in the United States House of Representatives in 1910.

His confirmation by the United States Senate was unusually protracted for the era because of the effects of Brown v. Board of Education and "Massive Resistance" upon the circuit's jurisdiction, alongside his past association with Thurgood Marshall. Southern Democrats delayed his confirmation with charges of "judicial activism", whilst Strom Thurmond said that he could not sit on a court dealing with "states' rights". After a lengthy debate, Sobeloff was confirmed in the Senate on July 16, 1956 by a vote of 64 to 19, with fourteen of the nineteen Senators who voted against him representing former Confederate states. He received his commission on July 18, 1956, and would play a major role ending "Massive Resistance" in Virginia a few years later. Sobeloff served as Chief Judge and as a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 1958 to 1964.

He assumed senior status on December 31, 1970. Sobeloff served in that capacity until his death on July 11, 1973, in Baltimore, MD. Sobeloff is buried in Hebrew Friendship Cemetery in Baltimore.

Family

Sobeloff married Irene Ehrlich in May 1918 and they had two daughters and four grandchildren.