Hall S. Lusk

Hall Stoner Lusk (September 21, 1883 – May 15, 1983) was an American jurist in the state of Oregon. A native of the District of Columbia, he became a judge in Oregon, serving in both the Oregon circuit courts and later on the Oregon Supreme Court, including time as its chief justice. A Democrat, he was appointed to the United States Senate for eight months in 1960 after the death of sitting Senator Richard L. Neuberger. Early life Hall Lusk was born in Washington, D.C., on September 21, 1883, to Charles Rufus and Florence Speake Lusk. His father was the long-time secretary of the Bureau of Catholic Indian Affairs. Mary Ellen Sherman was his Godmother. He attended Georgetown Preparatory School in DC from 1897 to 1900, and then graduated from Georgetown University in 1904. In 1907, Lusk graduated from Georgetown Law School, earning a bachelor of laws degree. He was a law clerk to a chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1906 to 1909, and was admitted to the District of Columbia bar in 1907. Legal career In 1909, Lusk moved to the state of Oregon where he passed the bar in 1910 and entered private legal practice in Portland. From 1918 to 1920, he served as an assistant United States Attorney for Oregon, and in 1922 ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Oregon Legislature. While in private practice he represented the Society of Sisters, and wrote their brief submitted to the United States Supreme Court in Pierce v. Society of Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. Political career Lusk was circuit judge of Multnomah County from 1930 to 1937. Shortly after becoming a judge, he oversaw the trial of the Lessards' harpooning of Ethelbert. The orca had swum up the Columbia River and was the news of the day. The Lessard's were fined for killing a fish without a hook and line. Judge Lusk, as Time magazine wrote, "Like almost everybody else, he knew, and explained to the jury in directing an acquittal, that a whale, which breathes air and suckles its young, is no fish." On July 22, 1937, Oregon Governor Charles H. Martin appointed him to the Oregon Supreme Court to replace James U. Campbell who had died in office. Lusk was elected to a full six-year term in 1938 and then re-elected to successive terms in 1944, 1950, and 1956. He was the court's Chief Justice from 1949 to 1951.