Kathryn J. DuFour
MSA SC 3520-11468

The Honorable Kathryn J. Lawlor Shook DuFour was the first woman appointed and afterward elected to the Maryland Circuit Court bench.  During her tenure on the court, she became an outspoken opponent of capital punishment.  She made enormous contributions to the Maryland judiciary and to women throughout the United States.

Kathryn Lawlor Shook DuFour was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts on March 19, 1910, daughter of Mary Josephine and Thomas Joseph Condon.  She was raised in Hollywood, California, where, as a teenager, she was an actress under contract with MGM and Fox Studios.  She played bit parts in a few films until her mother, disturbed over the unsavory people Kathryn was exposed to on the set, forced her to quit the movie business and finish high school.¹

After completing high school, Kathryn married Lawrence Lawlor, a trial attorney with the Veterans Administration.  Marriage had a two-fold effect upon Kathryn.  It sparked her interest in the law and brought her to Maryland.  Because of her husband's job, the young couple moved frequently until settling for good in the Washington D.C. suburbs.  It was here, in 1933, that Kathryn Lawlor entered Washington College of Law at American University.²

In 1936, after graduation from law school, Kathryn Lawlor worked for the Legal Aid Bureau of Washington D.C.  Afterward, she entered private practice, opening offices in Washington.  She was admitted to the D.C. bar in 1936, the Maryland bar in 1942, and was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1948.  After the birth of her two children, she practiced out of her Chevy Chase home and once her children were of school age, she opened an office in Silver Spring, Maryland.  She was in private practice until 1955.³

Throughout her eighteen year career as a practicing attorney, Kathryn Lawlor recognized that every case, no matter how minor it appeared, was of great consequence to the parties involved.  Mrs. Lawlor recounted the story of one female client who she represented early in her career.  The woman was seeking monetary support from her estranged husband for herself and her un-born child.  Mrs. Lawlor asked the court to grant her client $5.00 a week.  The judge awarded the woman $2.00 per week and Mrs. Lawlor strongly protested and argued for a larger judgment.  The judge reconsidered and increased the award to $2.50 per week.  Later, Mrs. Lawlor learned that this was the first time the judge had ever increased a judgment. By treating every case as worth fighting for, Kathryn Lawlor was able to successfully represent her clients. ⁴

At the same time, Mrs. Lawlor was involved in local community and political affairs.  She was active in the Chevy-Chase Citizens Committee and served as secretary-treasurer.  Her entrance into the political arena was prompted by a phone call.  One morning in 1950, she received a call congratulating her on her election as democratic precinct chair.  She would have accepted the position if not for the fact that she was a registered Republican. The call sparked her interest in local politics and encouraged the Republican party to promote her as a candidate.  She was elected to the Montgomery County Council and served from 1950 to 1952.  She became President of the Republican Federation of Montgomery County and was the 1952 recipient of the Good Government Award from the Bethesda Junior Chamber of Commerce. ⁵

Participation in local politics brought Kathryn Lawlor to the attention of state political leaders and was the stepping stone for her career as a public servant.  In 1953, she was appointed by the governor to fill a vacancy in the House of Delegates.  While describing her experiences in the House as, "fascinating," Mrs. Lawlor faced an uphill battle as a member of the minority Republican party.  While serving on the Judiciary committee, she backed bills to create a Tax Court and a People's Court.  Both bills floundered as did her proposal to create the office of lieutenant governor. In 1954, she ran for election and was defeated in a Democratic landslide.⁶

Despite her defeat, Kathryn Lawlor was about to make history.  On April 25, 1955, Governor McKeldin appointed her to a vacancy on the circuit court bench, and on May 13, 1955, Kathryn Lawlor was sworn in as the first woman circuit court judge in Maryland.  The following year, she ran for the bench during the general election and easily won a 15-year term.  She served the Sixth Judicial Circuit encompassing Montgomery and Frederick counties until her retirement in 1971.  In March 1970, she enjoyed the privilege of sitting on the Queen's Bench in London with Britain's first woman judge, Elizabeth Lane.⁷

This historic appointment was not without controversy.  Judge Lawlor faced opposition from her colleagues and the public.  Judge Charles W. Woodward, the judge she replaced, urged against her appointment.  Judge Woodward expressed the concern of many men that, as a judge, she would preside over rape and murder trials and be exposed to the vulgarities of human existence.  In the courtroom, lawyers challenged her knowledge of the law.  Criticism also came from other women.  One potential female juror voiced her opinion that women should not serve as jurors or judges.⁸ Despite the roadblocks placed in her path, Judge Lawlor persevered and became known as the judge who, "administers justice with a heart."⁹

Two years after her historic appointment, Judge Lawlor faced personal tragedy.  In 1957, her husband, Lawrence, suddenly died.  Four years later, she married Donald Gleason Shook, a consultant with an advertising company.¹⁰

Judge Lawlor Shook's tenure on the court was influenced by the national debate over the death penalty.  The social climate of the 1950's and 60's was characterized by a concern for the fair and equal treatment of fellow human beings.  Civil rights groups actively challenged American society and pushed for legislation guaranteeing basic human rights.  The death penalty was closely examined, and legislators and the judiciary were troubled over the apparent discretionary nature of capital punishment statutes.  In Maryland, the application of the death penalty was broad.  By law, six crimes warranted a sentence of death including, murder, rape, and kidnapping.  The law provided judges few restrictions and very little guidance in applying the death penalty.  In response to concerns, the Maryland Assembly commissioned a panel to investigate capital punishment and in 1961, the panel issued a report known as the Murdy Committee Report.  The committee recommended that, in the short term, capital punishment be restricted to the first degree murder of law enforcement officers and, in the long term, Maryland's death penalty statutes be overturned.  The Murdy Committee Report failed to initiate a change in Maryland law.  In response, the judiciary engaged in a quiet campaign against capital punishment.  Utilizing their broad sentencing powers, judges began to sentence more criminals to life imprisonment rather than death.¹¹

In the midst of this social and moral backdrop, Judge Lawlor Shook presided over two controversial capital punishment cases.  The first was that of 19-year-old Carl Estep, an African American convicted in the 1962 rape of an elderly white woman.  During the sentencing phase of the trial, Estep's lawyer, Barnard Welsh, argued against the imposition of the death penalty and for life imprisonment.  Welsh argued that the death penalty was a step backward for the legal profession and society, and that a commitment to life was a step toward the future.  In her response, Judge Shook cited studies which discredited the argument that capital punishment was a deterrent to violent crime.  Based upon these studies and a compilation of sentencing opinions from judges across the country, she sentenced Estep to life in prison.¹²

Judge Shook's opposition to capital punishment solidified and became public knowledge during the 1965 trial of Charles S. Stull.  Convicted of the murder of an elderly store owner, Stull was eligible for the death penalty.  During his sentencing, Judge Shook clearly faced a moral dilemma.  The murder was savage in nature, one that she described as, "a crime that to my mind practically cries to heaven for vengeance."  Yet she spoke of her belief in the value of human life when she commented that, "life is regarded by all thinking persons as something that should be preserved under all circumstances." Judge Shook became the first Maryland judge to publicly take a stand against capital punishment with the following words:

Many changes took place in Kathryn's life in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  In November 1968, her second husband, Donald Shook, passed away.¹⁶  In 1971,  she married Raymond A. DuFour, an insurance broker.  Later in the same year, Judge DuFour retired as chief judge from the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court bench.¹⁷

In retirement, Judge DuFour has been active in the Roman Catholic Church and a benefactor of The Catholic University of America.  In 1979, she had the pleasure of meeting Mother Theresa after she and her husband sponsored her trip to Norway to accept the Nobel Peace Prize.¹⁸  In 1994, the Catholic University law library was named the Judge Kathryn J. DuFour Law Library.  The university further honored her with the 1999 James Cardinal Gibbons Medal.  The medal is awarded for service to the Roman Catholic Church, The Catholic University of America, and the nation.¹⁹ In 1990, her husband, Raymond DuFour passed away.²⁰   Since then, she has been active in the Gulfstream, Florida area where she currently resides.  She is a founding member of The Women's Museum, a unique national museum established in association with the Smithsonian Institution that opened in Dallas, Texas in late 2000.²¹

Looking back on her long career and contributions to the court, Judge DuFour identified her own list of "firsts."  When she first came to the bench in 1955, the courthouse was not air-conditioned.   Judge DuFour was the first to purchase a window unit and install it in her offices.  She was the first judge to employ a secretary, bailiff and private investigator.   She hired them herself and paid their salaries.  In another historic move, Judge DuFour hired the first law clerk, a woman, Kathryn Diggs.²²

Judge Kathryn Lawlor Shook DuFour has broken ground for women in the judiciary throughout the United States.  Twenty-six years after Judge DuFour's appointment to the circuit court bench, Sandra Day O'Connor made history upon her elevation to the Supreme Court.  Justice O'Connor credited Judge DuFour with helping to, "pave the way," for her advancement to the highest court in the country.²³  Judge DuFour's determination and perseverance have benefited her peers and future generations of American women.

Endnotes

1.  "First lady judge once was actress," Montgomery County Sentinel, 10 October 1957.
2.  Ibid.
3.  Lawlor, Kathryn J., and Steed Evans, "I am a judge," Montgomery County Sentinel, 8 May 1958.
4.  "I am a judge," Montgomery County Sentinel.
5.  "First lady judge once was actress," Montgomery County Sentinel, 10 October 1957.
6.  Ibid.
7.  Ibid.  Kathryn J. DuFour, telephone interview by Karen Dunaway Hare, 22 January 2002.
8.  Durcanin, Cynthia, "In 1955, woman judge greeted with skepticism," The Journal, 18 September 1985.
9.  "Montgomery County's First Woman Judge," The Star Magazine, 10 January 1960.
10.  "Kathryn J. Du Four: A Chronology," courtesy of the Judge Kathryn J. DuFour Law Library, The Catholic University of America.
11.   "Chapter 1: History of Maryland's 1978 Death Penalty Statute, " In Report of the Governor's Commission On the Death Penalty, 27 April 1994. accessed 15 August 2001. http://www.sailor.lib.md.us/md/docs/death_pen/chapter.1.txt.
12.  "Circuit Court Proceedings in Carl Estep's Sentencing," Montgomery County Sentinel, 16 January 1962.
13.  Douglas, Walter B., "Judge Gives Life Sentence to Md. Slayer," The Washington Post, 24 June 1965.; Judge DuFour's remarks on sentencing in the case of State of Maryland v. Stull, Cr. No. 5993, 23 June 1965.
14.  This was said of Judge DuFour at the dedication of the Judge Kathryn J. DuFour Law Library at the Catholic University of America in 1994.  Kathryn J. DuFour, telephone interview by Karen Dunaway Hare, 2 January 2002.
15.  Newman, Vera, "Judge Shook adds color and controversy to Courthouse," Montgomery County Sentinel, 5 February 1970.
16.  "Kathryn J. Du Four: A Chronology," courtesy of the Judge Kathryn J. DuFour Law Library, The Catholic University of America.
17.   Ibid.
18.  Photograph, Unidentified man with Mother Theresa and Judge DuFour, c. 1979. Letter, Mother Theresa to Judge Du Four, 15 December 1979.
19.  "Kathryn J. DuFour Receives Gibbons Medal," CUA Magazine, Fall 1999.
20.  "Kathryn J. Du Four: A Chronology," courtesy of the Judge Kathryn J. DuFour Law Library, The Catholic University of America.
21.  Kathryn J. DuFour, telephone interview by Karen Dunaway Hare, 22 January 2002.
22.   Judge DuFour's list of personal "firsts," undated.
23.  Letter, Sandra Day O'Connor to The Honorable Kathryn J. DuFour, 9 July 1981.

Written by Lisa McTaggart, 2001 Summer Intern, Maryland State Archives