Thomas Joseph Meskill was born on January 30, 1928, in
New Britain, Connecticut. After graduation, Meskill enlisted in the
United States Air Force and served for three years during the
Korean War. He was honorably discharged in 1953 with the rank of
first lieutenant.
Judicial career On August 8, 1974,
President Richard Nixon, in one of the last acts of his presidency, nominated Meskill to serve as a judge of the
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, comprising Connecticut,
New York, and
Vermont. The nomination proved controversial and was not acted on by the
United States Senate that year. On January 16, 1975, President
Gerald Ford renominated Meskill to be the 38th judge of the Second Circuit court, succeeding to the seat vacated by Judge
J. Joseph Smith (himself a former Member of Congress). Law professors from Meskill's alma mater, the University of Connecticut, also opposed the nomination stating in a letter to the Senate "it is clear from his record as Governor that he lacks the judicial temperament which might have compensated for his want of experience....As Governor he has repeatedly shown himself insensitive to the rights of the poor and the disadvantaged, and indifferent to civil and political liberties." Nonetheless, Meskill's nomination was confirmed on April 22, 1975, by a 54–36 vote. He was commissioned to his seat the next day.
Noteworthy cases Meskill participated in many influential rulings during his tenure on the Court, including several adopted by the United States Supreme Court. Among his noteworthy rulings, in
Barnes v. Jones (2d Cir. 1981), a criminal case, Meskill disagreed with the majority, stating that appointed counsel should not have to present all non-frivolous arguments requested by his client. The United States Supreme Court agreed with Meskill and reversed the Second Circuit majority, holding that an indigent defendant did not have a constitutional right to compel appointed counsel to press non-frivolous points, where, as a matter of professional judgment, counsel chose not to do so. Meskill's dissenting opinion prevailed in two other Second Circuit cases in which the Supreme Court granted certiorari,
Herbert v. Lando (2d Cir. 1977), and
Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enters (2d Cir. 1983). In
Herbert, the majority concluded that, in a defamation suit brought by a public figure, the First Amendment affords a privilege to disclosure of a journalist's exercise of editorial control and judgment. Meskill predicted the Supreme Court's rejection of the majority's "new constitutional privilege"; the Supreme Court reversed the Second Circuit, affording no absolute privilege to the editorial process of a media defendant in a libel case. Similarly, in
Harper & Row Publishers, the Second Circuit concluded over Meskill's dissent that the publication of verbatim excerpts from former president Ford's unpublished memoir constituted a "fair use" under the Copyright Act, as the excerpts involved important matters of state. The Supreme Court disagreed and again sided with Meskill, concluding that the fact that excerpts were newsworthy did not alone shield the publisher from copyright liability. ==Personal life==