Starting Tuesday, visitors to the Clyde S. Cahill Courthouse in downtown St. Louis will have the chance to learn about pioneering judges, including Cahill himself.
The St. Louis Law Library, on the courthouse’s 13th floor, will host “Honoring Trailblazers in our Courts.” It is based on oral histories collected by the Judicial Legacy Project, spearheaded by Associate Circuit Judge Nicole Colbert-Botchway of the 22nd Circuit.
Colbert-Botchway had done an oral history of civil rights stalwart Frankie Muse Freeman for the American Bar Association. During her work on that project, she met U.S. District Judge Richard Webber, who had started collecting interviews with retired federal judges.
She was inspired to do the same for state court judges.
“Since 1995, I've been appearing in this circuit,” Colbert-Botchway said. “Once I got to the bench in 2015 many of those judges who I had admired and looked up to and appeared in front of as a young attorney were retiring, and I was very concerned that that wisdom may be lost.”
Colbert-Botchway recently discussed the exhibit with St. Louis Public Radio reporter Rachel Lippmann. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Lippmann: How did the idea of adding a physical exhibit come about?
Colbert-Botchway: We don’t have an official Judicial Learning Center like the federal courts, but part of the goal was to have the information available to help increase the confidence in the judicial system.
The oral histories are linked online. But not everyone has access to a computer. We really have some outstanding retired judges who are trailblazers in Missouri and across the United States. We wanted to highlight them in a physical form and give greater access to people.
Lippmann: What was your reaction to getting the funding to stage a physical exhibit? (The money came primarily from a St. Louis Bar Foundation grant.)
Colbert-Botchway: It’s just amazing that something that started as just trying to preserve the legacy of our judges on our court has turned into a greater project that is available for everyone to inspire and encourage everyone.
Lippmann: All 26 people that you have interviewed for the Judicial Legacy Project are distinguished jurists. How did you choose the eight that will be part of the physical exhibit?
Colbert-Botchway: We're hoping that this is our first physical exhibit, so we really started out with some of the judges who are famous firsts:
- Evelyn Baker was the first Black woman to serve as a circuit judge in the state of Missouri.
- Clyde Cahill was the first Black federal judge for the Eastern District of Missouri. As the chief legal adviser to the Missouri NAACP, he filed the first lawsuit in the state to enforce the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that outlawed school segregation.
- Anne-Marie Clarke was the first Black member of the Board of Governors of the Missouri Bar Association and one of the longest-serving juvenile court commissioners in the 22nd Circuit.
- Mary Kay Hoff advocated for the appointment of women to Missouri appellate courts as the president of the Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater St. Louis.
- Margaret Neill was among the first women elevated to the bench in the 22nd Circuit.
- Booker Shaw was the second Black man to be the chief judge of a Missouri appellate court. His peers elected him to lead the Eastern District of Missouri in July 2006.
- Richard Teitelman was the first Jewish and first legally blind member of the Missouri Supreme Court.
- Lisa Van Amburg helped found the first all-female law firm in the St. Louis area before she became a judge.
Lippmann: Of these eight – who are you the most excited for people to learn more about?
Colbert-Botchway: I would have to say Clyde Cahill.
When I interviewed all of the judges, I asked them, name a judge, living or dead, you served with that you learned something from, hold in high regard, or feel like you had high ethical standards. Overwhelmingly, people talked about Theodore McMillan (the first Black judge on the Missouri Court of Appeals) and Clyde Cahill.
When you’re working with other people who have those high ethical standards, treat people kindly and with respect, and have a love for the law and a love of community, it makes your job feel worthwhile every day.
Lippmann: What do you hope that members of the public take away from the Judicial Legacy Project, whether they see the exhibit in person or watch the videos online?
Colbert-Botchway: I hope they understand that judges are human beings and public servants, and that we work hard to preserve the rule of law. I hope they can be proud of their court and know that justice is being served.
Lippmann: As you did the interviews for the Judicial Legacy Project – what did you learn and take away?
Colbert-Botchway: The first time I met a judge, I was in law school. When I interviewed the judges, that same feeling I had in law school of love for the law, respect for the court, admiration for the judges, they came back up for me. It made me feel like “this is why I’m here."
