Quick facts
Court U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Position circuit
Status Retired 1959
Served 1954–1959
Appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican)
Commissioned 1954-04-30
Education Whitman College, A.B. (1910); Columbia Law School, LL.B. (1914)
Signed orders read 25
Last updated 2026-07-18
Motion outcomes
AppealN = 24
38% granted
8 1 11 4
Petition for mandamusN = 1
counts only
1
Counted from classified signed orders. A “1 of 1” is one ruling, not a tendency.
About this data
A free Ezel research resource. This profile is built from public records: the judge's own signed orders, public docket records, and published biographies. It is not legal advice and is not affiliated with the court.
How Judge Fee decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Fee treated a nonmalicious response to a public political attack as conditionally privileged.
“He who seizes the sword may be wounded by a sword.”
Fee required trial of disputed facts that controlled both jurisdiction and the merits.
“where there are allegations of key jurisdictional facts which are controverted, there always exists power to try the issues thus made.”
Fee resisted using extraordinary writs to supervise ordinary incidents of ongoing trial-court litigation.
“The appellate courts will not supervise the daily incidents of an action in court or a trial by mandamus or prohibition.”
Fee expressly disapproved a protective appeal that could not affect the taxpayer's case.
“The taking of the appeal was not justified, and we express our disapproval of such a step.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
Benbow v. Wolf; Wolf v. United States
13347_1 · 1954-06-30
Appeal (appellant)
Granted in part
“The judgment is reversed and set aside.”
Patton v. Administrator of Civil Aeronautics
13921_1 · 1954-09-21
Appeal (appellant)
Granted
“The case is reversed with direction that the motion to dismiss be denied and plaintiff be given the opportunity to amend the complaint.”
Robert J. Nelson v. United States
14344 · 1954-11-02
Appeal (appellant)
Denied
“Affirmed.”
Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Bear Film Co.
13676 · 1955-01-11
Appeal (appellant)
Moot / procedural
“Appeal dismissed.”
Raymond J. Veelik v. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co.
14366 · 1955-04-26
Appeal (appellant)
Denied
“Affirmed.”
Jew May Lune v. John Foster Dulles
19-15658 · 1955-05-13
Appeal (appellant)
Granted
“The cause is remanded for trial of the issues of fact.”
Motores De Mexicali, S.A. v. Bank of America
14397 · 1955-06-30
Appeal (appellant)
Denied
“Affirmed.”
Gerald L. K. Smith v. Albert Levitt
14420 · 1955-07-22
Appeal (appellant)
Granted
“Reversed.”
Oleta O’Connor Yates v. United States
13535 · 1955-07-26
Appeal (appellant)
Granted
“Judgment reversed.”
Arturo Fletes-Mora v. Herbert Brownell
14454 · 1955-12-09
Appeal (appellant)
Denied
“Dismissal of the petition is affirmed,”
Richards v. Juneau Independent School District
14856 · 1956-04-03
Appeal (appellant)
Moot / procedural
“The proceeding is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.”
Glen T. Jamison v. Maria Repetti
14825_1 · 1956-09-07
Appeal (appellant)
Denied
“Affirmed.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Not applicable to this circuit-court record.
A historical record
Judge Fee no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.