Adolphus Frederic St. Sure (1869-1949): Federal Judge Involved in Groundbreaking Casee

Hon. Adolphus St. Sure

Adolphus Frederic St. Sure was born on March 9, 1869, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and came of age at a time when the American West still offered ambitious young men the chance to build both career and reputation from the ground up. He arrived in California in the 1890s and, like many lawyers of his generation, “read law” rather than attending a formal law school, entering practice in Alameda County in 1895.

His early career was rooted firmly in the civic life of Alameda. Before he was even admitted to the bar, St. Sure served as city recorder from 1893 to 1899, an office that placed him at the center of the city’s legal and administrative affairs. He later returned to municipal service as city attorney from 1915 to 1917, a period when Alameda—and the broader East Bay—was experiencing rapid growth and increasing legal complexity.

By the second decade of the twentieth century, St. Sure had established himself as one of the leading lawyers in Alameda County. In 1917, he ascended to the Superior Court bench, where he served until 1922, gaining a reputation for diligence and careful judgment. He was elevated again in 1923 to the California Court of Appeal for the First District, placing him among the most prominent jurists in Northern California.

His judicial career reached its apex in 1925, when President Calvin Coolidge appointed him to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Confirmed within days, St. Sure would sit on the federal bench for more than two decades, presiding over cases during a period that spanned the Great Depression, World War II, and the early Cold War. 

On the federal bench, St. Sure was not merely a passive arbiter of law but an active participant in some of the defining legal and social questions of his time. He was an early advocate for the inclusion of women on juries, drawing on his experience in Alameda County courts and describing women jurors as “conscientious, independent, [and] highly intelligent.” He also issued a groundbreaking injunction in 1939 declaring employer blacklisting of union workers illegal—an important moment in the evolution of labor rights on the West Coast. 

Obituary, San Francisco Call Bulletin

During World War II, St. Sure’s courtroom became a stage for some of the most consequential and controversial legal battles in American history. In 1942, he presided over the case of Fred Korematsu, a U.S. citizen who resisted the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans. The case would ultimately reach the United States Supreme Court, where his ruling was upheld in the now-infamous Korematsu v. United States. That same year, he also signed the order transferring Treasure Island to the United States Navy, reflecting the sweeping federal authority asserted during wartime.

St. Sure took senior status in 1947 after more than twenty years on the federal bench, but remained a respected figure in the legal community until his death on February 5, 1949.

St. Sure’s career traced the arc of California’s transformation from a developing region into a modern state—while his decisions, for better or worse, left an imprint on some of the most enduring legal questions of the twentieth century.

Sources: RootsWeb, St. Sure Family Genealogy; Federal Judicial Center; Wikipedia; U.S. District Court Northern District of California Historical Materials