Charles Fahy

Early life, education, and career

Born in Rome, Georgia, Fahy was the son of Thomas and Sarah (Jonas) Fahy. Charles attended the University of Notre Dame and then went to Georgetown University Law School. There he received his LL.B. in 1914 and was admitted to the D.C. bar in the same year. He served the United States in World War I as a naval aviator attached to the British and American forces. Fahy was awarded the Navy Cross. After the war he returned to Washington, D.C. and practiced law until 1924, before moving his practice to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he resided until 1933. While in Sante Fe, Fahy served as the city attorney in 1932.

Executive branch service

In 1933, Fahy returned to Washington when he was appointed first assistant solicitor to the Department of the Interior. The same year, he was appointed as a member of the Petroleum Administrative Board, and then served as its president from 1934-1935. As general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board from 1935–1940, Fahy began his career in Supreme Court litigation on behalf of labor rights. Upon the enactment of the Wagner Act in 1935, Fahy, on behalf of the NLRB, often appeared in front of both Houses of Congress to offer testimony and litigated cases in the Supreme Court brought against the government. By the time he was appointed assistant solicitor general in 1940, Fahy had already appeared eighteen times in front of the Supreme Court, where his arguments were wholly sustained sixteen times and partially upheld twice.

Fahy was appointed Solicitor General by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on November 1, 1941. While Solicitor General, Fahy continued to advocate for worker's labor rights, and was involved in cases regarding the constitutionality of wiretapping and the citizenship of American Communists.

Fahy served as Solicitor General until 1945, after having argued more than 70 cases in front of the Supreme Court before being called upon by General Dwight D. Eisenhower to serve as director of the legal division of the U.S. Group Control Council in Germany in the aftermath of World War II. After returning from his tour of duty in Germany, Fahy became the Legal Adviser of the Department of State. He was also a member of the U.S. Legal Committee of the General Assembly of the United Nations, held in New York City in 1946.

Japanese American internment cases

Fahy defended the government in four cases that challenged aspects of the World War II internment of Japanese Americans. During preparations for Hirabayashi v. United States and Yasui v. United States, Assistant Attorney General Edward Ennis presented Fahy with a Naval Intelligence report from 1942 that recommended limited internment of Japanese Americans over mass confinement. The plaintiffs in both cases had been arrested and convicted for violating the curfew and exclusion orders related to Executive Order 9066, and both men separately filed appeals that eventually landed in the Supreme Court. Ennis urged Fahy to submit the ONI report as evidence, but because it directly contradicted the Western Defense Command's argument that it was impossible to determine Japanese American loyalty on an individual basis, Fahy withheld the information and won both cases. He also successfully argued the landmark case of Korematsu v. United States, in which the Supreme Court validated the constitutionality of the executive and military orders forcing the relocation of Japanese Americans into camp. Ennis and other aides brought to Fahy's attention FBI and FCC reports that disproved the claims of Japanese American sabotage key to the government's argument; Fahy inserted an ambiguously worded footnote in his court brief that did not specifically mention the contradicting evidence, and the Court ruled against Korematsu. The fourth case, ex parte Endo, was decided in the plaintiff's favor and effectively ended the incarceration.

In the 1980s, researchers Peter Irons and Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga uncovered evidence that Fahy deliberately suppressed information indicating Japanese Americans were no threat to national security, and the Korematsu, Yasui and Hirabayashi convictions were overturned in 1983, 1986 and 1987, respectively. In 2011, Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal formally acknowledged Fahy's misconduct in the cases.

Alternatively, Charles J. Sheehan, Fahy's grandson, argues that his grandfather did not withhold evidence in a recent American Journal of Legal History article, "Solicitor General Charles Fahy and Honorable Defense of the Japanese-American Exclusion Cases." See: http://ajlh.oxfordjournals.org/content/ajlh/54/4/469.full.pdf. Also see Peter Irons, "How Solicitor General Charles Fahy Misled the Supreme Court in the Japanese American Internment Cases: A Reply to Charles Sheehan," American Journal of Legal History, Vol. 55, pp. 208–226 (April 2015). Irons notes that Charles Sheehan is Fahy's grandson. The Department of Justice and the Solicitor General's Office have not changed their position on Fahy's misconduct. Additionally, see Charles Sheehan's reply: "Charles Fahy's 'Brilliant Public Service as Solicitor General,' A Reply to Peter Irons," American Journal of Legal History, Vol. 55, Issue 3 (September 2015). See: http://ajlh.oxfordjournals.org/content/ajlh/55/3/347.full.pdf. (The quote regarding Charles Fahy's "Brilliant Public Service as Solicitor General" is from Justice William J. Brennen, 54 Georgetown Law Journal (1964–65)).

Federal judicial service

Fahy returned to private practice in 1947, but was again called to serve the federal government as chairman of the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunities in Armed Forces, from 1948-1950. On October 21, 1949, Fahy received a recess appointment from Harry S Truman to a new seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit created by 63 Stat. 493. Formally nominated on January 5, 1950, Fahy was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 4, 1950, and received his commission on April 7, 1950. He assumed senior status on April 17, 1967, and served in that capacity until his death.

Death and commemoration

Fahy was the recipient of a number of awards, including the Navy Cross (1917), a medal for military merit (1946), the Robert S. Abbott Memorial Award (1951), John Carroll Award from the Georgetown University Member Alumni (1953), and the D.C. Distinguished Service Award (1969). Charles Fahy died on September 17, 1979, at the age of 87 in Washington, D.C. He was survived by his wife Mary Agnes Lane, and children Charles (Dom Thomas Fahy O.S.B.), Anne Marie (Sheehan), Sarah Agnes (Sister Sarah Fahy S.N.D.), and Mary Agnes (Johnson).

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Office of the Solicitor General.