Dallin H. Oaks

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Dallin H. Oaks
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Dallin H. Oaks

Dallin Harris Oaks (born August 12, 1932) is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He was born in Provo, Utah. He is a former professor of law at the University of Chicago's school of law, former president of Brigham Young University, and former justice of the Utah Supreme Court. In 1981, he was closely considered by the Ronald Reagan administration as a U.S. Supreme Court nominee along with Robert Bork, Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy. The position was filled by Sandra Day O'Connor to fulfill a campaign promise made by Reagan to appoint a woman to the court.

On May 3, 1984 he was ordained an Apostle and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. He was the youngest Apostle by years at that time, and the first one younger than President Thomas S. Monson who had been ordained over twenty years before. In 2002 he was sent to personally preside over the Church in the Philippines, normally the task of a member of the Quorums of the Seventy, another quorum of Church General Authority. At the same time Jeffrey R. Holland, who had followed Elder Oaks as president of Brigham Young University and later become an Apostle, was assigned to preside over the Church in Chile.

Elder Oaks is known for delivering doctrinal talks at conference that cover facets of the church's basic doctrines. His delivery is simple and concise, and his messages are often referred to for clarification on doctrinal matters by the members.

Contents

[edit] Scholarly Research and Notable Opinions

Dallin H. Oaks had a stellar legal career prior to his call to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. After graduating from the University of Chicago Law School, Oaks clerked for Chief Justice Earl Warren of the United States Supreme Court from 1957-1958. He also practiced at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago. During part of his time on the faculty of the Unversity of Chicago Law School, Oaks served as interim dean.

In August 2005, a Justice Department memo released among the files on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts shows then-Utah Supreme Court Justice Dallin Oaks was screened in 1981 for possible nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. Instead, President Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O'Connor fulfilling a campaign promise.

As a law professor, Oaks focused his scholarly research on the writ of habeas corpus and the exclusionary rule. In California v. Minjares, 443 U.S. 916 (1979), 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. See Oaks, Studying the Exclusionary Rule in Search and Seizure, 37 U.Chi.L.Rev. 665 (1970). 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 - 1984, Oaks authored opinions on a variety of topics. In In re J. P., 648 P.2d 1364 (Utah 1982), 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, 668 P.2d 513 (Utah 1983), 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, 681 P.2d 199 (Utah 1984), an unwed minor father brought action through guardian ad litem seeking custody of 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] General conference talks

[edit] Speeches since being called as an Apostle

See speeches.byu.edu.

[edit] References

[edit] Publications

  • Dallin H. Oaks, Ethics, Morality and Professional Responsibility, 1975 B.Y.U.L.Rev. 591.
  • Dallin H. Oaks, Legal History in the High Court--Habeas Corpus, 64 Mich. L. Rev. 451 (1966)
  • Dallin Oaks, The "Original" Writ of Habeas Corpus in the Supreme Court, 1962 Sup. Ct. Rev. 153.
  • Dallin H. Oaks & Warren Lehman, A Criminal Justice System and the Indigent: A Study of Chicago and Cook County 59, 66 (1968)
  • Dallin H. Oaks & Marvin S. Hull, Carthage Conspiracy: The Trial of the Accused Assassins of Joseph Smith 184-86 (1975)
  • Dallin H. Oaks, The Wall Between Church and State 3 (Dallin H. Oaks ed., 1963)
  • Dallin Oaks, Habeas Corpus in the States -- 1776- 1865, 32 U. CHI. L. REV. 243 (1965)
  • Dallin Oaks, Legal History in the High Court -- Habeas Corpus, 64 MICH. L. REV. 451 (1966)

[edit] External resources

Preceded by:
Ernest L. Wilkinson		 President of BYU
1971–1980		 Succeeded by:
Jeffrey R. Holland
Preceded by:
Russell M. Nelson		 Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
May 3, 1984–		 Succeeded by:
M. Russell Ballard
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