The American Bar Association Medal (or ABA Medal) is the highest award given by the American Bar Association for "exceptionally distinguished service by a lawyer or lawyers to the cause of American jurisprudence."[1] The ABA Board of Governors chooses the medal's recipient. The medal was authorized at the 50th anniversary meeting of the ABA in 1928.[2] The first medal was given in 1929 and it has been given most, but not all, years since.
The medal itself was designed by Laura Gardin Fraser.[3] It is four inches in diameter, made of 24K gold, later reduced to 14K gold. On the obverse is a profile of John Marshall with the inscription "To the end it may be a government of laws and not of men," from the Constitution of Massachusetts. On the reverse is "Justitia" with a likeness of Lady Justice.[2]
List of recipients
[edit]- Source: "Recipients of the American Bar Association Medal" at the American Bar Association website
- 1929 Samuel Williston
- 1930 Elihu Root
- 1931 Oliver Wendel Holmes
- 1932 John Henry Wigmore
- 1934 George Woodward Wickersham
- 1938 Herbert Harley
- 1939 Edgar Bronson Tolman
- 1940 Roscoe Pound
- 1941 George Wharton Pepper
- 1942 Charles Evans Hughes
- 1943 John J. Parker
- 1944 Hatton W. Sumners
- 1946 Carl McFarland
- 1947 William L. Ransom
- 1948 Arthur T. Vanderbilt
- 1950 Orie L. Phillips
- 1951 Reginald Heber Smith
- 1952 Harrison Tweed
- 1953 Frank E. Holman
- 1954 George Maurice Morris
- 1956 Robert G. Storey
- 1957 William Clarke Mason
- 1958 E. Smythe Gambrell
- 1959 Greenville Clark
- 1960 William A. Schnader
- 1961 Jacob Mark Lashly
- 1962 Tom C. Clark
- 1963 Felix Frankfurter
- 1964 Henry S. Drinker
- 1965 Edmund M. Morgan
- 1966 Charles S. Rhyne
- 1967 Roger J. Traynor
- 1968 J. Edward Lumbard
- 1969 Walter V. Schaefer
- 1970 Frank C. Haymond
- 1971 Whitney North Seymour
- 1972 Harold Gallagher
- 1973 William James Jameson
- 1974 Ross L. Malone
- 1975 Leon Jaworski
- 1976 Bernard G. Segal
- 1977 Edward L. Wright
- 1978 Erwin N. Griswold
- 1979 Lewis F. Powell Jr.
- 1981 Chesterfield Smith
- 1982 Earl F. Morris
- 1984 Robert W. Meserve
- 1986 Justin A. Stanley
- 1987 Warren E. Burger
- 1988 F. Wm. McCalpin
- 1989 Wm. Reece Smith Jr.
- 1990 A. Sherman Christensen
- 1991 Robert B. McKay
- 1992 Thurgood Marshall
- 1993 Randolph W. Thrower
- 1994 William J. Brennan Jr.
- 1995 Shirley M. Hufstedler
- 1996 John Minor Wisdom
- 1997 Sandra Day O'Connor
- 1998 Morris Harrell
- 1999 John H. Pickering
- 2000 Oliver W. Hill
- 2001 Robert MacCrate
- 2002 William H. Webster
- 2003 Talbot "Sandy" D'Alemberte
- 2004 Father Robert F. Drinan
- 2005 George Leighton
- 2006 Jerome J. Shestack
- 2007 Anthony M. Kennedy
- 2008 Patricia M. Wald
- 2009 William H. Gates Sr.
- 2010 Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- 2011 David Boies and Theodore B. Olson
- 2012 Morris Seligman Dees Jr.
- 2013 Hillary Clinton
- 2014 General Earl E. Anderson
- 2015 Roberta Cooper Ramo
- 2016 Dennis Archer
- 2017 John Feerick
- 2018 Bryan Stevenson
- 2019 Dale Minami
- 2020 William H. Neukom
- 2021 Lawrence J. Fox
- 2022 Stephen G. Breyer
- 2023 Fred D. Gray
References
[edit]- ^ "2014 ABA Medal to honor retired Gen. Earl E. Anderson". American Bar Association. July 2014. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
- ^ a b "The American Bar Association Medal". ABA Journal. 39: 697–700. August 1953.
- ^ "James Earle and Laura Gardin Fraser Papers". Syracuse University Library. Retrieved 2016-01-02.