Judge Jacob Trieber

Judge Jacob Trieber. Jacob Trieber served as United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas from 1901 to 1927. He was the first Jewish judge ever to serve on the federal bench. Trieber was born in Prussia in 1853, immigrated with his parents to St. Louis in 1866; the family moved to Helena, Arkansas in 1868. A brilliant student, he began to read law with a retired justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court after graduating from high school. He became a member of the Arkansas Bar in 1876, practiced successfully in Helena, and was active in civic life. A member of Temple Beth El, he married Ida Schradski in 1882, with whom he had a son and daughter. , A Republican, Trieber was elected a Helena City Councilman and Phillips County Treasurer, but lost elections for statewide and federal office. In 1897 President McKinley appointed him U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, where he served until he became a federal judge on January 9, 1901. The bench, bar, and public unanimously supported his appointment., As a jurist Trieber was noted for his integrity, intelligence, fairness, and his progressive vision of the Constitution. In United States v. Hodges he held that the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and federal statutes protected black persons who were prevented from employment by Klu Klux Klan intimidation. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Hodges in 1906, but the Court reversed itself in 1968 and accepted Judge Trieber's reasoning. Following the Elaine Massacre of 1919 Judge Trieber stopped the executions of six black men whose trials were unconstitutional. Trieber often sat with the U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis and the federal courts in New York. , Judge Trieber died in 1927 and is buried in Congregation B'nai Israel cemetery in Little Rock.