Anderson, J. Blaine, 1922-1988.

Lawyer, Blackfoot, Idaho, 1949-1971; U.S. district judge for Idaho, 1971-1976; U.S. appellate judge for the ninth circuit, 1975-1988.

J. Blaine Anderson was born in Trenton, Utah, on January 19, 1922. He married Grace Little on November 14, 1944; they had four children, three sons and one daughter. He graduated from the University of Idaho College of Law in 1949 and was admitted to the Idaho bar the same year. He practiced in Blackfoot as a partner in the law firm Furchner and Anderson until 1971, when he was appointed a district judge for the District of Idaho. One of his best known decisions was Marshall v. Barlow (1975) that held as unconstitutional an Occupational Safety and Health Administration provision that allowed the search of businesses without a search warrant.

In 1976 he was appointed U.S. Court of Appeals Judge for the 9th Circuit, the largest of the 12 federal circuit courts. As chief administrative judge of the Northern Unit, which included Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana, Judge Anderson was the highest ranking federal judicial officer in Idaho. While on the court he wrote the decision holding that the National Football League violated anti-trust laws when it refused to permit the Oakland Raiders to move to Los Angeles (see case 1795). He also wrote the decision in the Committee for an Independent P-I ( Post Intelligencer ), People Opposed to a One-Newspaper Town, et al. v. Hearst Corporation and the Seattle Times, which was concerned with the joint operating agreement between the Seattle Times and Post Intelligencer in 1982 (see case 1735).

Anderson was a member of the University of Idaho Alumni Hall of Fame and was awarded the first Faculty Award of Legal Merit from the College of Law in 1974. Well-respected by his fellow jurists for his excellent reasonings and opinions, he was awarded an honorary J.D. degree from Lewis & Clark College in 1978. He was a member of the American Bar Association, Idaho State Bar Association, South East Idaho District Bar, American Judicature Society, the American College of Probate Counsel, and a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. In addition to his judicial duties he was chairman of Idaho's Air Pollution Committee from 1959-1960. He was still active on the appeals court when he died at his Boise home on April 17, 1988, at the age of 66.