Thomas Edward Fairchild (December 25, 1912 – February 12, 2007) was an American lawyer and judge. He served forty years as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Earlier in his career he was a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, and the 31st Attorney General of Wisconsin.
Early life and career
Born on December 25, 1912, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he was the son of Edward T. Fairchild, who would serve on the Wisconsin Supreme Court from 1930 through 1957, and was chief justice for the last 3 years of his tenure.
Fairchild graduated from Riverside High School in 1929. He obtained an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Cornell University in 1934, and a Bachelor of Laws in 1938 from the University of Wisconsin Law School.
In 1938, he entered private practice in Portage, Wisconsin, partnering with Daniel H. Grady. In 1941, he was appointed a hearing commissioner for the Office of Price Administration in Chicago, Illinois, and Milwaukee, serving from 1941 to 1945. He returned to private practice in Milwaukee from 1945 to 1948.
Political career
In 1948, Fairchild became involved in a project to revitalize the Democratic Party in the state of Wisconsin. At the time, Republicans had dominated state elections for the previous fifty years. That year, Fairchild ran for Attorney General of Wisconsin. The incumbent, Grover L. Broadfoot, was defeated in the Republican primary. He had been appointed to the position to fill the unexpired term of John E. Martin, who had resigned to accept appointment to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Attorney General
Fairchild's Republican opponent in the election was Don Martin, who benefited from having the same last name as the previous five-term Attorney General John Martin. Martin, however, did dispel some of that confusion when he was charged with public intoxication for an incident in which he urinated on a bank teller window in downtown Madison in broad daylight. Fairchild went on to win the election, but he was the only Democrat to win state-wide office that year. After the election, the incumbent, Grover Broadfoot, who was only serving on an appointed basis, resigned. This cleared the way for Fairchild to be appointed to begin his term two months early.
As Attorney General, Fairchild was seen as pursuing policy that he believed in despite political consequences. He fought for expansion of civil rights and equal protection under law. Wisconsin did not have segregation laws like those that existed in the south at this time—in fact, Wisconsin had laws prohibiting the denial of equal enjoyment of public facilities—but there were still de facto segregation behaviors that Fairchild sought to challenge in the state. For instance, the situation of the two public pools in Beloit, Wisconsin, where Fairchild brought a suit against the City Manager, A. D. Telfer, for the apparent segregation of those public facilities. Fairchild dismissed the suit after securing sworn testimony from Telfer that African Americans would be welcomed at either public pool.
Fairchild boldly used his authority in other politically sensitive areas as well. He issued an opinion finding that a then-popular Baseball tally card which awarded prizes based on scores was a form of illegal gambling; he asserted the right of the state government to set standards for counties administering benefits funded jointly by the state and federal government, where many counties were currently not meeting the standards; he supported Socialist Milwaukee Mayor Frank Zeidler's rent control rules; he opined that public school release for religious instruction of Catholic students was a violation of the Constitution of Wisconsin. His most controversial decision, however, was his opinion finding that several radio and television programs which gave away prizes to the audience constituted a form of illegal gambling.