Courts in the Classroom
Supreme Court of Indiana
Division of State Court Administration
30 S. Meridian Street, Ste 500
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Dr. Elizabeth R. Osborn
Coordinator for
Public History and
Education Programs
Pho: 317.233.8682
elizabeth.osborn@courts.IN.gov
Sarah Kidwell
Outreach Coordinator
Pho: 317.234.3055
sarah.kidwell@courts.IN.gov
2011 Outstanding Public
History Project Award
from the National Council
on Public History
Justice Biographies
Justice James A. Emmert
(Seventy-ninth Justice)
Justice Emmert was born September 26, 1895, in Laurel, Indiana, and died April 14, 1974, in Shelbyville, Indiana.193
He was a graduate of the Clarksburg (Indiana) High School and the Tennessee Military Institute.194 He received an undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and a law degree from Harvard Law School.195 "United States Supreme Court Justice Frankfurter [said] that Judge Emmert was the best research student he ever had at Harvard."196
He began his first law practice in Shelbyville, Indiana in 1923.197 In 1925, he was elected mayor of Shelbyville.198 Then, in 1928, while serving as mayor, he was elected judge of Shelby Circuit Court and was subsequently re-elected in 1934.199 In 1940, he was a candidate for governor of Indiana, but he lost the nomination.200 He was elected Indiana Attorney General in 1942 and was reelected in 1944.201 In 1946, he was elected to the Indiana Supreme Court where he served until January 5, 1959.202 Justice Emmert served as chief justice for several six month rotation periods, which was the practice of the time.203 Then, toward the end of his service on the bench, he was elected by the court to serve a one year term as chief justice.204
In addition to his legal accomplishments, he was a World War I Army veteran, having served twenty-two months at a British general hospital in France.205
Known for his eccentricity, he set up housekeeping in his Indiana State House chambers in order to avoid traveling to Shelbyville.206 He had a sofa-bed installed, and prepared his meals on a hot-plate.207
193. Obituaries, RES GESTAE, May 1974, at 32, 32-33.
194. Id.
195. Id.
196. The Fun of Being a Lawyer and a Judge, INDIANA LAWYER, Jan. 11, 1995, at 5, 5 (reflections on Justice Emmert in a speech given by Justice Givan) [hereinafter Givan Speech].
197. Obituaries, supra note 193, at 33.
198. Id.
199. Id.
200. Id.
201. Id.
202. Givan Speech, supra note 196, at 5.
203. Obituaries, supra note 193, at 33.
204. Id.
205. Givan Speech, supra note 196, at 5.
206. Obituaries, supra note 193, at 33.
207. Id.
Source: Browning, Minde C., Richard Humphrey, and Bruce Kleinschmidt. "Biographical Sketches of Indiana Supreme Court Justices." Indiana Law Review: Vol. 30, No. 1, 1997. View this source in PDF format.
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