Dallin H. Oaks

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Dallin Harris Oaks (born August 12, 1932) is an American attorney, jurist and religious leader. He is currently a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He is a former professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School, a former president of Brigham Young University, and a former justice of the Utah Supreme Court. In 1981, he was closely considered by the Ronald Reagan administration as a Supreme Court of the United States nominee.^[2][3]

[edit] Biographical background

Oaks was born in Provo, Utah. He graduated from Brigham Young High School in 1950, Brigham Young University in accounting^[4] in 1954, and the University of Chicago Law School in 1957.

After graduating from the University of Chicago Law School, Oaks clerked for Chief Justice Earl Warren of the United States Supreme Court from 1957 to 1958. After his clerkship he practiced at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago. Oaks left Kirkland & Ellis to become a professor at the University of Chicago Law School. During part of his time on the faculty of the Law School, Oaks served as interim dean. Oaks left the Law School upon being appointed President at Brigham Young University.

Oaks would also serve five years as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)^[4] (1979–1984)^[5] and eight years as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Polynesian Cultural Center.^[4]

[edit] President of Brigham Young University

Oaks served as president of Brigham Young University from 1971–1980.^[4] As president of Brigham Young University, Oaks oversaw the start of the J. Reuben Clark Law School and the Graduate Business School. Although university enrollment continued to grow and new buildings were added, neither were done at the pace of the previous administration under Ernest L. Wilkinson.

Upon leaving Brigham Young University, Oaks was appointed as a justice in the Utah Supreme Court. He would serve in this capacity from 1980 to 1984, when he resigned to accept a call by the LDS Church to become a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.^[4]

[edit] LDS Church apostle

On May 3, 1984, Oaks was ordained an apostle and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the LDS Church. He was the youngest apostle by years at that time, and the first one younger than Thomas S. Monson, who had been ordained over twenty years before. As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Oaks is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator.

Oaks had been sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve on April 7, 1984, along with fellow quorum member Russell M. Nelson, however his ordination occurred almost a month later to allow him time to resign from his judgeship.^[6]

In 2002, Oaks was sent to personally preside over the church area in the Philippines, normally the task of a member of the Quorums of the Seventy, another quorum of church general authority.

[edit] Family

Oaks was married to June Dixon Oaks on June 24th, 1952. They had six children. Among these is Dallin D. Oaks, an linguistics professor at Brigham Young University.^[7] She died on July 21st, 1998. On August 25th, 2000 Oaks married Kristen Meredith McMain in the Salt Lake Temple.

[edit] Scholarly research and notable opinions

As a law professor, Oaks focused his scholarly research on the writ of habeas corpus and the exclusionary rule. In California v. Minjares,^[8] the U.S. Supreme Court held "[t]he most comprehensive study on the exclusionary rule is probably that done by Dallin Oaks for the American Bar Foundation in 1970.^[9] According to this article, it is an open question whether the exclusionary rule deters the police from violating Fourth Amendment protections of individuals.

As a Utah Supreme Court Justice from 1980 to 1984, Oaks authored opinions on a variety of topics. In In Re J. P.,^[10] a proceeding was instituted on a petition of the Division of Family Services to terminate parental rights of natural mother. Oaks wrote that a parent has a fundamental right protected by the Constitution to sustain his relationship with his child but that a parent can nevertheless be deprived of parental rights upon a showing of unfitness, abandonment, and substantial neglect.

In KUTV, Inc. v. Conder,^[11] media representatives sought review by appeal and by a writ of prohibition of an order barring the media from using the words "Sugarhouse rapist" or disseminating any information on past convictions of defendant during the pendency of a criminal trial. Oaks, in the opinion delivered by the court, held that the order barring the media from using the words "Sugarhouse rapist" or disseminating any information on past convictions of defendant during the pendency of the criminal trial was invalid on the ground that it was not accompanied by the procedural formalities required for the issuance of such an order.

In Wells v. Children's Aid Soc. of Utah,^[12] an unwed minor father brought action through a guardian ad litem seeking custody of a newborn child that had been released to state adoption agency and subsequently to adoptive parents, after the father had failed to make timely filing of his acknowledgment of paternity as required by statute. Oaks, writing the opinion for the court, held that statute specifying procedure for terminating parental rights of unwed fathers was constitutional under due process clause of United States Constitution.

[edit] Publications

• Dallin H. Oaks, "Ethics, Morality and Professional Responsibility", 1975 BYU Law Review 591.
• ——, "Legal History in the High Court—Habeas Corpus", 64 Michigan Law Review 451 (1966)
• ——, "The 'Original' Writ of Habeas Corpus in the Supreme Court", 1962 Supreme Court Review 153.
• —— & Warren Lehman, A Criminal Justice System and the Indigent: A Study of Chicago and Cook County (1968)
• —— & Marvin S. Hill, Carthage Conspiracy: The Trial of the Accused Assassins of Joseph Smith (1975)
• ——, The Wall Between Church and State (1963)
• ——, "Habeas Corpus in the States": 1776–1865", 32 University of Chicago Law Review 243 (1965)
• —— (1991). The Lord's Way. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book. 
• ——, "The Historicity of the Book of Mormon" in Paul Y. Hoskisson, edited, Historicity and the Latter-day Saint Scriptures, (Provo: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center, 2001) p. 238-248.

[edit] See also

• Jenny Oaks Baker : daughter, musician
• Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints) : ancestor, early Latter Day Saint leader
• Council on the Disposition of the Tithes

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• LDS Church biography
• Don L. Searle, Ensign, June 1984, pp. 15-21 Elder Dallin H. Oaks: “It Begins by Following the Other Apostles”
• "LDS apostle was studied for '81 court", Salt Lake Tribune, August 18, 2005

[edit] External links

• BYU presidents
• Grampa Bill's G.A. Pages: Dallin H. Oaks
• Mormon Wiki