What Should Be Done With Portrait of Disgraced 2nd Circuit Judge?
When a longtime federal district court judge in New York died last year, he left an unusual legacy.
In the chambers of Judge Charles Brieant Jr. was a portrait of a former judge on the New York City-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals: Martin Manton. Once considered a candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court, Manton resigned from the appellate court in disgrace in 1939 and served more than a year in prison after being convicted of corruption in his exercise of his judicial duties, the New York Times recounts. He died in 1946.
Why was Manton’s portrait hanging on the wall of Brieant, a respected 37-year member of the federal district court bench? “Judge Brieant (pronounced BRY-ent) told people that he displayed the painting as a reminder of the fallibility of judges, particularly those above him on the Second Circuit, whom he liked to needle and call the Second Circus,” the newspaper writes.
Brieant personally paid to have the oil painting cleaned and restored after discovering it in a courthouse storage room in the 1980s. Now, after his death last year at age 85, what should be done with the painting has caused a bit of a stir.
The 2nd Circuit’s chief judge, Dennis Jacobs, has suggested that it is time to return the portrait of Manton to storage. But others, including a grandson of Manton, would love to have it and, presumably, display it. Meanwhile, although the 2nd Circuit may actually own the painting, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has control of it (the portrait has been sent out for cleaning and repair) and Chief Judge Kimba Wood apparently has no intention of relinquishing it, the Times writes.
In a letter to Jacobs last year, Wood said the district court would be postponing the painting’s restoration, estimated to cost $10,000, because of the state of the economy. But, she added, she is looking forward to discussing “how best to publicize Judge Manton’s legacy.”
Related coverage:
New York Times: “Martin T. Manton”
Time (1939): “Not a Pretty Story”
Time (1936): “Borrowing Judge”
