{{Short description|American judge (1859–1939)}} {{About|Samuel Alschuler, a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals|Washington state and California businessman|Samuel Altshuler}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Samuel Alschuler | honorific_suffix = | image = ALSCHULER, SAMUEL. JUDGE LCCN2016861365.jpg | alt = | caption = | office = Senior Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit | term_start = May 15, 1936 | term_end = November 9, 1939 | office1 = Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit | term_start1 = August 16, 1915 | term_end1 = May 15, 1936 | nominator1 = | appointer1 = Woodrow Wilson | predecessor1 = Peter S. Grosscup | successor1 = Walter Emanuel Treanor | pronunciation = | birth_name = Samuel Alschuler | birth_date = {{Birth date|1859|11|20}} | birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1939|11|09|1859|11|20}} | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | citizenship = | party = Democratic | other_party = | height = | spouse = | partner = | relations = | children = | parents = | mother = | father = | relatives = George Alschuler (brother) | education = Read law | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = | known_for = | salary = | net_worth = | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | website = <!--Embedded templates / Footnotes--> | footnotes = }} '''Samuel Alschuler''' (November 20, 1859 – November 9, 1939) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
==Early life== Samuel Alschuler was born November 20, 1859 Chicago, Illinois. A member of a civically-engaged family German-Jewish family, his brother George also served in the Illinois House of Representatives and another brother, Benjamin, was a judge of the Illinois Court of Claims.<ref name="Solomon 1981">{{cite book|title=History of the Seventh Circuit, 1891-1941|first=Rayman L.|last=Solomon|publisher=Bicentennial Committee Judicial Conference of the United States|year=1981|access-date=December 28, 2023|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BoUbISP-uX8C|via=Google Books}}</ref> Alschuler was raised in Aurora, Illinois. After graduating from Aurora High School, Alschuler spent some time as a general store clerk, he read law and was admitted to the Illinois Bar.<ref name="Solomon 1981"/>
==Legal and political career== Alschuler worked in private practice in Aurora, in partnership with J. C. Murphy, a former US Attorney for the District of Dakota Territory, under the firm name of Alschuler & Murphy.<ref name="1897 Directory">{{cite book|last=Pickerring|first=J. L.|title=Official Directory of the General Assembly of Illinois, 1897|page=36|publisher=Press of the Illinois State Register|location=Springfield, Illinois|year=1897|access-date=September 8, 2022|url=http://www.idaillinois.org/digital/collection/bb/id/45036/rec/2}}</ref> In the 1892 United States House of Representatives elections, Alschuler was the Democratic nominee for Illinois's 5th congressional district, which was a staunchly Republican-voting district anchored by Kane County. After Alschuler lost his 1892 congressional race, Governor John Peter Altgeld appointed him a member of the State Commission of Claims on July 15, 1893.<ref>{{cite book|title=Official Directory of the General Assembly of Illinois, 1897|page=99|access-date=March 31, 2024|url=http://www.idaillinois.org/digital/collection/bb/id/45079/rec/2}}</ref> He was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in the 1896 general election. In his first term, Alschuler served in a role analogous to a floor leader.<ref name="1897 Directory"/> In his second term, he was the chairman of the Democratic Steering Committee.<ref>{{cite book|last=Pickering|first=J. L.|title=Official Directory of the General Assembly of Illinois, 1899|year=1899|publisher=Press of the Illinois State Register|access-date=March 31, 2024|location=Springfield, Illinois|page=55|url=http://www.idaillinois.org/digital/collection/bb/id/45589/rec/1}}</ref> In 1900 Illinois gubernatorial election, Alschuler was the Democratic nominee against Republican candidate Richard Yates Jr. Yates defeated Alschuler by a narrow 5.43% margin.<ref>{{cite book |author=Compiled by James A. Rose, Secretary of State |author-link=James A. Rose |date=1900 |title=Official vote of the State of Illinois cast at the General Election, November 6, 1900|url=https://archive.org/details/stateofillinoiso1888illi/page/n327/mode/2up |location=Springfield, Illinois |publisher=Phillips Bros., State Printers}}</ref> Shortly after the gubernatorial election, he was the Democratic nominee for appointment by the Illinois General Assembly in January 1901 to the United States Senate. However, the Republican Party held a state senate majority, and re-elected Republican incumbent Shelby Moore Cullom to serve another six-year term.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Tribune Almanac and Political Register 1902 | publisher=The Tribune Association | location = New York | date = 1902 | ref = {{sfnRef | Tribune Almanac (1902)}} | page=297 | url= https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015065248505;seq=309}}</ref> Alschuler continued in private practice in Chicago until 1915.<ref name="auto">{{FJC Bio|33|nid=1377136|name=Samuel Alschuler<!--(1859–1939)-->}}</ref><ref>'Official Directory of the General Assembly of Illinois 1897,' Biographical Sketch of Samuel Alschuler, pg. 36</ref>
==Federal judicial service== Alschuler received a recess appointment from President Woodrow Wilson on August 16, 1915, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit vacated by Judge Peter S. Grosscup. He was nominated to the same position by President Wilson on January 7, 1916. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 18, 1916, and received his commission the same day. He was a member of the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges (now the Judicial Conference of the United States) from 1924 to 1934.<ref name="auto"/>
On May 7, 1935, Congressman Everett Dirksen (a Republican from Illinois) offered a resolution, H.R. Res. 214, to launch an impeachment inquiry into possibility of bringing impeachment charges against Alschuler. Dirksen delivered long remarks to the Senate, accusing Alschuler of having acted improperly in a 1934 case he presided over by showing bias and partiality in favor of several parties (the Pullman Company, Safety Co, Edward Fitzsimmons Dunne Sr., Edward Fitzsimmons Dunne Jr.) and against the Marshall Electric Company. The resolution was referred to the Judiciary Committee.<ref>{{cite web |title=79 Cong. Rec. 7 |url=https://www.congress.gov/74/crecb/1935/05/07/GPO-CRECB-1935-pt7-v79-2-2.pdf |website=Congress.gov |access-date=20 April 2025 |pages=7081–7089 |date=1935}}</ref> A week later, the House adopted a resolution, H.R. Res. 220, granting the Judiciary Committee authority to hold hearings.<ref>Id. at 7393.</ref>
Alschuler assumed senior status on May 15, 1936. His service terminated on November 9, 1939, due to his death.<ref name="auto"/>
==Other service== Alschuler was appointed to arbitrate between meatpacking unions in Chicago and employers after the President's Mediation Commission intervened in November 1917.<ref>McCartin, Joseph A.''Labor's Great War: The Struggle for Industrial Democracy and the Origins of Modern American Labor Relations, 1912-1921''. The University of North Carolina Press. 1997. p. 83</ref> From 1922 to 1923, Alschuler served on the new Federal Coal Commission.<ref>{{cite news| title = Huge. Distillery with Tuinel Feature Discovered on Police Raid--Explorer Cook Arrested| publisher = Chicago Tribune| url = http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1923/02/02/page/38/article/huge-distillery-with-tunnel-feature-discovered-on-police-raid-explorer-cook-arrested#text| date = February 2, 1923| access-date = July 18, 2017}}</ref>
==See also== * Federal Coal Commission
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== * {{FJC Bio|33|nid=1377136|name=Samuel Alschuler<!--(1859–1939)-->}}
==External links== *{{Find a Grave|8767108}}
{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=John Peter Altgeld}} {{s-ttl|title=Democratic nominee for Governor of Illinois|years=1900}} {{s-aft|after=Lawrence B. Stringer}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=Peter S. Grosscup}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit}}|years=1915–1936}} {{s-aft|after=Walter Emanuel Treanor}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alschuler, Samuel}} Category:1859 births Category:1939 deaths Category:Democratic Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives Category:Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Category:United States court of appeals judges appointed by Woodrow Wilson Category:People from Aurora, Illinois Category:Lawyers from Chicago Category:United States federal judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law Category:19th-century members of the Illinois General Assembly