Charles M. Merrill
Charles M. Merrill (Charles Merton Merrill, 1907–1996) was an American lawyer and judge who served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Nevada from 1951 to 1959 and as a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1959, taking senior status in 1974 and serving until his death in 1996.
Contents6 sections
Key facts
1907–1931Early Life and Education
Born in Honolulu in 1907 to Arthur Merton Merrill and Grace Graydon Dickey Merrill, he moved with his family to California in 1911.[1]
He earned an A.B. from the University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) is a campus of the University of California system; the University of California was founded in 1868 through a merger of two institutions and moved to Berkeley, California, in 1873.Open the full entry, in 1928 and an LL.B. from Harvard Law School in 1931.[2]
1931–1950Law Practice in Reno
He married Mary Luita Sherman in 1931. He moved to Reno, Nevada, in 1932 to work for the attorney Robert M. Price, and in 1945 formed Merrill, Robinson & Gray, focusing on water law.[1]
His former partner Leslie B. Gray recalled that Merrill succeeded Price on Price’s death in 1940 and later presented the Orr Ditch Decree, a Truckee River water-rights decree, at its final hearing.[3]
1951–1959Supreme Court of Nevada
From 1951 to 1959 he sat on the Supreme Court of Nevada, twice as chief justice.[2]
1959Ninth Circuit
In August 1959 President Dwight D. Eisenhower nominated him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; he was confirmed that September.[2]
The American Bar Association rated him “exceptionally well qualified.”[1]
From 1974: Senior Status
On October 8, 1974, a White House notice acknowledged the retirement from active service of Charles M. Merrill “of San Francisco, California” and noted that he would remain available for assignments.[4]
On March 3, 1975, President Gerald Ford nominated Anthony M. Kennedy to the Ninth Circuit seat he had vacated.[5]