Ramsey County History – Summer 1991: “Walter Sanborn and the Eighth Circuit Court”

Walter Sanborn and the Eighth Circuit Court

Author: Thomas Boyd

A biographical profile of one of Minnesota’s most distinguished lawyers. He came to St. Paul in 1870 to join his uncle’s law practice. Sanborn succeeded in private practice, served on the City Council, and was appointed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1892. There he made his greatest mark in antitrust law, voting to break up James J. Hill’s and J. P. Morgan’s Northern Securities Trust, and later writing the opinion that ordered the dismantling of Standard Oil. “The Standard Oil decision was the first meaningful application of the Sherman Antitrust Act and Judge Sanborn’s opinion was widely hailed as a milestone that ushered in a new era.” He died in 1928. His nephew, John B. Sanborn Jr., followed him to the Eighth Circuit in 1932 serving there until 1964.

PDF of Boyd article