Society Supports and Celebrates Young Legal Historians

A vital part of the Society’s mission is to encourage young scholars to work in the field of Supreme Court history. As such, the Society now awards two cash prizes annually to emerging legal historians. This year’s winners received awards and accolades in a ceremony in the Supreme Court Chamber on June 3.

 

Zach Jonas was awarded the Hughes-Gossett Prize recognizing the best student article published in the Journal of Supreme Court History. He was selected by a three-judge panel and received a $500 award. His article, titled FDR’s Court-packing and the Struggle for Civil Rights, examines the response by the Black community to FDR’s 1937 Court Enlargement Plan. Jonas wrote the article while a law student at Georgetown Law School. He is now a legislative counsel in the U.S. House of Representatives. Henry Ishitani was the recipient of a new award: The Henry J. Abraham Early Career Research Grant. This is a competitive cash award of $1000 for doctoral students who are no more than five years from completion of the Ph.D. It is given on the basis of a student’s potential for producing publishing work in the field of Supreme Court history. It honors the distinguished scholar and Henry J. Abraham, who taught for many years at the University of Virginia. Ishitani was chosen by a committee composed of five scholars, several of whom were mentored by Professor Abraham. Ishitani received his JD from Yale Law School and is in Yale’s History Ph.D. program. His article on the Chase Court’s rejection of the legal mechanisms designed to exclude ex-Confederates from power will appear in the November issue of the Journal. Its title is: An End to Rebel “Punishment”: The Test Oath Cases and the Politics of Confederate Disqualification. Ishitani is an incoming fellow at the University of Tulsa

 

Additional information regarding these Awards:
https://supremecourthistory.org/society-news/henry-j-abraham-early-career-research-grant/
https://supremecourthistory.org/supreme-court-historical-society-awards/hughes-gossett-award-students/