U.S. District Senior Judge A. Sherman Christensen, the dean of the Utah judiciary, died in Provo at the East Lake Care Center on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 1996, of causes incident to age.
He was 91, having served on the federal bench since he was appointed by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1954.Judge Christensen was in retirement for the past several years but had taken an active role in cases well into his 80s. He was noted for his great legal acumen and scholarship and for some talents not usually associated with the law, particularly his writing of poetry. His courtesy was legendary among lawyers and fellow judges.
Judge Christensen was born June 9, 1905, in Manti, the son of a state court judge and lawyer, A.H. Christensen. He was reared in Manti, but after his mother died he moved to Salt Lake City to live with an aunt while attending LDS High School. He later attended Brigham Young University and herded sheep for his father during the summer breaks.
He recalled going to his father's courtroom in the old days. "My father was my model," he said. "I vividly remember going to his courtroom, which was in an old building in Manti, Utah. You had to go up a rickety flight of stairs to the second floor. There was a big pot-bellied stove that the sheriff kept stoked with coal."
In 1927, he married Lois Bowen, and they moved to Washington, D.C., where he completed law school. She died in 1992. The future judge worked as a trial attorney in Provo, with his father as partner. Long afterward, he recalled those days with great fondness, saying that in the 20 years he and his father practiced law together there was never a harsh word between them.
He was president of the Utah State Bar Association and active in the Republican Party, serving as president of the Young Republican League. In 1940 he was that party's nominee for Congress. He was recommended for a federal judgeship in 1954 by then-Sen. Arthur V. Watkins, R-Utah, then nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. He was the first member of the LDS Church appointed to the federal bench in Utah since territorial days.
As a judge he presided over many notable cases and wrote articles for law journals. He also authored and published two books of poetry.
Judge Christensen officially retired in 1971, but he kept a full schedule, hearing many cases. In 1978, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers honored him with a scroll expressing appreciation for his work as a trial and appellate advocate, legal writer and lecturer, and for his high standards.
Until recently, he remained active as a settlement judge, closing his office after his wife died in 1992. In 1990, the American Bar Association presented him with its highest honor, a medal recognizing Judge Christensen's "conspicuous service in the cause of American jurisprudence."