Jamestown, NY - For Sunday Daybreak, 2 on Your Side traveled down to Jamestown for our Unique Place. We visited the Robert H. Jackson Center where you can learn more about this distinguished superstar of the legal system and his continuing impact on the US Supreme Court.
Executive Director Thomas Schmidt of the Jackson Center says "Robert Jackson was not afraid to take a side that he thought was right." That principle guided the illustrious legal career of this proud product of Jamestown schools who spent his formative years in the southern tier. Then without attending college or graduating from law school, Jackson rose to the pinnacle of the court system in the very historic times of the 1930's,40's and 50's. He did so under the guidance of FDR in the White House.
Attorney Gregory Peterson is one of the board members of the Jackson Center. He says Jackson had an amazing legal career in Washington DC and Europe. "As the Solicitor General, Attorney General, Justice of the Supreme Court, and the chief American prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trial. And I think that lesson where an individual who can start out with such humble background and really be self taught is an object lesson for anybody. Anybody can make it and I think that's one of the lessons we're trying to accomplish here at the Robert Jackson Center."
Located on East Fourth Street in the 1800's Kent Mansion in Jamestown, the Robert H. Jackson Center showcases his life and career. But it's also meant to keep his legal legacy alive with its exhibits on the court and lectures and symposiums on the application of the law. That would especially be the case in the protection of human rights. That involves Jackson's role in prosecuting the top Nazi war criminals in Nuremberg, Germany in 1945 and 46. The Jackson Center's Marion Beckerink says this about the Center's mission: "We're tying to get kids to understand that the liberties that we have under the Constitution need to constantly be examined so that we're never compromised. And Justice Jackson's legacy with regard to that issue was him being the Chief Prosecutor in Nuremberg and saying we are going to tell the world that we're going to prosecute these criminals under a system that is fair and just. And that we want generations beyond us to know that there's a framework in terms of how we define justice and liberty in this country."
Even now, Jackon's influence is still felt as Peterson points out "Here's an individual who died in 1954. And yet his words, his ability to command the English language continues to be an impact on Justices today. On many instances this past term, Jackson was quoted...including the same sex marriage case. His decision and his opinion was the linchpin for that decision. So it's very relevant...it's very relevant today. And that's why many legal scholars believe Jackson was perhaps one of the greatest writers in the history of the United States Supreme Court."
Schmidt adds "He was that type of a man that he could rise to the occasion and we're pretty proud of him. You know he was one of our local natives here in Jamestown, New York and probably one of our native sons who did the most out of anyone."
For more information about the Jackson Center go to http://www.roberthjackson.org/
