Ernest Knaebel

(b. Manhasset, N.Y., 14 June 1872; d. West Boxford, Mass., 19 Feb. 1947), reporter of decisions, 1916–1944. Knaebel received the A.B. (1894), LL.B. (1896), and LL.M. (1897) from Yale. He was admitted to the New Mexico and New York bars and practiced with Shearman & Sterling in New York City from 1897 to 1899. He moved to Colorado in 1898 and practiced with his father in Denver. Later becoming an attorney for the federal government, he prosecuted public land frauds in the West, and served as assistant U.S. attorney in Colorado from 1902 to 1907.

Knaebel came to Washington in 1907 as special assistant to the attorney general. He practiced in the Justice Department and in 1911 became assistant attorney general. He organized and directed the Public Lands Division of the Justice Department and directed litigation concerning public and Indian lands. In this capacity, he argued many cases before the Supreme Court. He succeeded Charles Henry Butler as the Court's reporter of decisions in 1916, eventually editing volumes 242 through 321 of the United States Reports. Butler wrote that Knaebel had not known the position was vacant and that Knaebel was surprised by his appointment. Under Knaebel's tenure, the office of reporter was reorganized by statute and the printing and sale of the U.S. Reports exclusively by the government was begun. Knaebel resigned because of poor health in 1944.

See also Reporters, Supreme Court.

— Francis Helminski

Ernest Knaebel was an attorney who became an assistant U.S. attorney for Colorado and later a U.S. Supreme Court reporter of decisions.

Born June 14, 1872, in Manhasset, New York, and raised in New York, Knaebel received his college and legal education at Yale. He received his bachelor of arts degree in 1894, his bachelor of laws degree summa cum laude in 1896, and his master of laws degree magna cum laude in 1897. After graduating from law school, he was admitted to the New York, New Mexico, and Colorado bars. He practiced law in New York City from 1897 to 1898.

In 1898, Knaebel moved to Colorado and entered private practice with his father in Denver. From 1902 to 1907, he served as assistant U.S. attorney for Colorado. He returned to the East in 1907 to become a special assistant to the attorney general in Washington, D.C., and was named assistant attorney general in 1911. During his tenure with the Justice Department, Knaebel was heavily involved in land-fraud prosecutions, arguing many of the early cases concerning public and Indian land disputes that came before the U.S. Supreme Court. He also organized the Public Lands Division of the Justice Department and directed that division from 1909 to 1916.

In 1916, Knaebel was appointed the reporter of decisions for the U.S. Supreme Court. In this capacity, he and his staff were responsible for the slow, painstaking task of editing the Court's decisions and preparing them for publication. The reporter checks all citations in the opinions, corrects typographical and other errors, adds the headnotes summarizing the major points of law, and lists the voting lineup of the justices and the names of counsel. Under Knaebel's tenure, the office of reporter was reorganized by statute and the printing and sale of U.S. Reports, the official publication of Supreme Court orders and decisions, was turned over to the U.S. Government Printing Office and the superintendent of documents. Knaebel edited volumes 242 to 321 of U.S. Reports.

Knaebel was a member of the American Bar Association, Phi Beta Kappa, and Phi Alpha Delta. He served on the Board of Governors of the Lawyers' Club and was a member of the Cosmos Club and the Yale Club.

Knaebel served as reporter of decisions from 1916 until January 31, 1944, when he retired because of ill health. He died on February 19, 1947, in West Boxford, Massachusetts.

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Ernest Knaebel (June 14, 1872-February 19, 1947) was an American lawyer and the eleventh reporter of decisions of the United States Supreme Court, serving from 1916 to 1944.

Born West Boxford, Massachusetts, Knaebel was a graduate of Yale University, receiving his A.B. in 1894, his LL.B. in 1896, and his LL.M. in 1897. He practiced law in New York City in 1898 but soon moved to Denver, Colorado. He practiced law there until 1902, when he was named United States Attorney, serving until 1907. In that year he went to Washington, D.C., where he was a special assistant to the United States Attorney General until 1911 and then Assistant Attorney General from 1911 to 1916.^[1] While at the United States Department of Justice, he specialized in cases involving the public lands and Indian matters. He became reporter in 1916 and during his tenure, the Government Printing Office took over publication of the United States Reports; previously private printers had issued them.

Some of Knaebel's official correspondence and other personal papers are housed with the Knaebel Family Papers collection at the American Heritage Center of the University of Wyoming and available for research.

References

1. ^ Quintana, Frances Leon (2004). Ordeal of change: the southern Utes and their neighbors. Rowman Altamira. pp. 30. ISBN 0759107106. 

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Preceded by Charles Henry Butler	United States Supreme Court Reporter of Decisions 1915 – 1944	Succeeded by Walter Wyatt

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