Buckley and Mikva

James Buckley passed away a couple of days ago at age 100. He is probably most remembered as the only U.S. senator ever to have won election solely on the Conservative Party ballot line. Lawyers and law professors probably remember him better as the lead plaintiff in Buckley v. Valeo, the first in a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions that undid most federal limits on political campaign spending.

The Conservative Party of New York announced that Buckley was unique as "the only American to hold senior roles in all three branches of government," noting his service as senator, Second Circuit judge, and in "senior roles in the Reagan Administration." That was indeed a life of public service, but he was not alone in that distinction.

James Buckley and Abner Mikva may have had almost nothing else in common, but both of them did hit the federal trifecta. Mikva was a U.S. congressman from Illinois (first from Hyde Park, then from Evanston), a judge on the District of Columbia Circuit, and White House counsel to President Clinton.

Others with the same distinction included John Marshall (Chief Justice, secretary of state, Virginia congressman) and Salmon P. Chase (Chief Justice, Ohio senator, secretary of the treasury). L.Q.C. Lamar hit a grand slam as Mississippi Congressman, secretary of the interior, supreme court justice, and the Confederacy's ambassador to the Russian Empire. Embarrassingly, Lamar's cabinet and Supreme Court appointments came years after he committed treason in defense of slavery as a general in the Confederate Army.

Perhaps the Conservative Party meant that Buckley had been the only living American who served in all three branches, though the statement was published after his death.