Levin Hicks Campbell

How Judge Campbell rules, drawn from 5 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Judge Campbell no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.

Court
United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
Position
district
Status
Elevated to a higher court
Served
1971–1972
Appointed by
Richard M. Nixon (Republican)
Commissioned
1971-11-30
Education
Harvard College, A.B., 1948; Harvard Law School, LL.B., 1951
Signed orders read
5

How Judge Campbell decides

Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

What persuades

Campbell granted habeas relief where a flag-treatment statute swept protected expression into vague language that invited selective enforcement.

“As worded, the statute sets ‘a net large enough to catch all possible offenders,’ leaving it to the police and the courts to pick and choose whom to prosecute and convict.”

Procedural preferences

He applied the narrow statutory standard governing review of railroad adjustment-board awards and declined to disturb a result that had a rational basis.

“the Court cannot say, and I do not find, that the Board’s decision was wholly baseless and without reason.”

In preliminary-injunction review, he weighed the speculative employee benefit of relief against the concrete risk that blocking an airline merger could imperil the carrier.

“As against the highly speculative gain to the employees of an injunction, one must weigh the more positive danger to Northeast’s future existence should the merger be aborted.”

Signed rulings

A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.

McDonald v. Penn Central Transportation Co.
· 1972-02-08
Summary judgment (defendant Penn Central Transportation Co.) Granted

“Defendant’s motion for summary judgment is allowed.”

Summary judgment (plaintiff) Denied

“Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment is denied.”

Murgia v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts Board of Retirement
· 1972-07-21
Motion for temporary restraining order (plaintiff) Denied

“three-judge court are denied.”

Request to convene three judge court (plaintiff) Denied
Gorton v. Phoenix Insurance Co.
· 1972-02-23

After trial, Campbell entered judgment for the insurer because the insureds' blasting method increased the hazard beyond ordinary construction activity.

Goguen v. Smith
· 1972-05-25
Habeas petition (petitioner Valerie Goguen) Granted

“Accordingly, an order is to be entered that the writ of habeas corpus issue and that the petitioner be released from the defendant’s custody.”

International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers v. Northeast Airlines, Inc.
· 1972-02-03
Preliminary injunction (plaintiff unions) Denied

“Preliminary injunction denied.”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

No assigned-case timeline was available for this nine-month district tenure. The located writings cover labor, insurance, civil rights, habeas corpus, and public employment, but they do not establish the distribution of Campbell's full district caseload.

A historical record

Judge Campbell 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.