American Judge Florence Ellinwood Allen
First Woman on State Supreme Court, Second Woman Federal Judge
Oct 27, 2009
Born March 23, 1884 in Salt Lake City, Utah, Allen and her family moved to Cleveland, Ohio for her father’s health. In Cleveland, Clarence Allen was a teacher at Western Reserve University, now known as Case Western Reserve University.
Pursuing a Musical Career
Allen’s father taught his daughter Latin and Greek. She showed a talent for music at an early age and attended New Lyme Institute in Ashtabula, Ohio. She graduated from Western Reserve in 1904 with a major in music. Supportive of her musical abilities, Allen’s father sent her to Germany to continue her musical studies. A nerve injury cut short her ambitions to be a classical pianist. While in Germany, Allen wrote articles for the Musical Courier, a New York magazine.
Upon her return to the states, Allen began writing articles as a music critic for the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper, a position she held until 1909. However, since her dreams of being a concert pianist would never develop, Allen turned her interest to other things. Namely, politics and law.
Becoming a Lawyer
Like many other universities of the time, Western Reserve did not admit women into its law school. Allen took a few special classes and tutorials which only strengthened her resolve to have a legal career. She did what many women who wanted to be lawyers did: she found other schools to attend. She attended one year at the University of Chicago then transferred to New York University. While attending there, Allen worked as a legal investigator and researcher for the New York League for the Protection of Immigrants to pay her tuition.
Allen was awarded a law degree in 1913 and was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1914. She opened her own law practice but, as in many other cases, clients shied away from a woman lawyer. But Allen was optimistic about her success and volunteered with the local Legal Aid Society in order to gain practical experience. This volunteer work exposed her to the legal ramifications of women’s suffrage.
No doubt, Allen’s own experiences with becoming a lawyer influenced her participation in women’s suffrage. Allen began challenged laws in Cleveland which limited the participation of women in the political process.
Around this time Allen also took up another cause: the quest for world peace. Her two brothers had died during World War I and Allen felt war should be outlawed.
Assistant District Attorney Appointment
Through perseverance, Allen won a few cases and began gaining respect as a lawyer. In 1919, Allen was appointed assistant prosecuting attorney for Cuyahoga County, the first woman in Ohio to hold such a position, even bringing cases before the grand jury.
Elected as a Judge
In 1920, Allen was elected as a common pleas judge, also the first woman in this position. As a common pleas judge, Allen tried almost 900 cases. One of the more notable cases was that involving gangster Frank Motto. Women were on the jury for the Motto trial and the judge was a woman. This created speculation about how women’s emotional status may play into the final decision. But Motto was convicted of murdering two men during a robbery and Judge Allen sentenced Motto to the electric chair.
Elected to Ohio Supreme Court
In 1922, Allen was elected to the Ohio Supreme Court and then re-elected in 1928. Throughout this part of her legal career, Allen was praised for her fair-mindedness and willingness to listen. She continued to support and speak out about women’s rights, particularly their rights to serve as jurists and pursue law and political careers.
Appointed a Federal Judge
Allen was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in March of 1934. She was the second woman appointed as a Federal judge, the first being Genevieve Rose Cline during Coolidge’s administration. Cline served on the Customs Court.
By this time, Allen had many supporters; even the press were suggesting Allen be nominated for a seat on the Supreme Court. Although her supporters would make this suggestion each time an opening came up on the Supreme Court, a woman would not serve on the Supreme Court until Sandra Day O’Connor in 1981.
Judge Allen had enough to keep her busy even without serving on the Supreme Court. A member of the National Association of Business and Professional Women as well as a member of the National Association of Women Lawyers, Allen continued speaking about the importance of women’s participation in the legal process as well as being politically active. She also continued speaking out against war and claiming that war should be outlawed and made a crime.
Allen died September 13, 1966 at the age of 82.
Allen published “To Do Justly” in 1965 by The Press of Western Reserve.
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