Judge Irwin N. Cohen papers, 1954-1968

  • IdentificationMSCohe68
  • TitleJudge Irwin N. Cohen papers MSCohe68
  • PublisherSpecial Collections
  • LanguageEnglish
  • RepositorySpecial Collections
  • Physical Description3.5 Linear feet
  • Date1954-1968
  • AbstractJudge Irwin N. Cohen served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and as Chief Counsel for the City Council Emergency Crime Committee before sitting on the bench in the Cook County Circuit Court. His papers include hearings and abstracts of proceedings from the Chicago City Council Emergency Crime Committee, materials for professional judicial conferences, legal opinions of the Appellate Court Justices of the First District of Illinois, a legal brief, and a scrapbook containing newspaper clippings.
  • OriginationCohen, Irwin N.

Old Resource ID was ICohen

Irwin N. Cohen graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 1930 and later earned a degree from the Northwestern University School of Commerce. Cohen worked as a capital stock assessor in the legal department of the Illinois Tax Commission from 1936 to 1941 when he returned to private practice. He then served as Assistant U.S. Attorney from 1949 to 1954, briefly holding the position of U.S. Attorney for two months in 1954 before being appointed Chief Counsel to the City Council Emergency Crime Committee or "Big Nine." The Emergency Crime Committee was charged with investigating political corruption in Chicago, especially alleged links between organized crime and the police. Cohen became Commissioner of the Chicago Dept. of Investigation in 1955 and served as a Judge in the Cook County Circuit Court toward the end of his professional legal career.

The Judge Irwin N. Cohen papers include hearings and abstracts of proceedings from the Chicago City Council Emergency Crime Committee, materials for professional judicial conferences, legal opinions of the Appellate Court Justices of the First District of Illinois, a legal brief, and a scrapbook containing newspaper clippings. The clippings are mostly about Irwin N. Cohen's work as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and Chief Counsel for the Emergency Crime Committee. The legal brief, No. 65 L 24317, concerns the unconstitutionality of an arbitrary financial limit imposed (by contemporary Illinois State law) on the death benefit for the survivors of Clarence N. Sayen, longtime president of the Airline Pilots Association. Sayen had died while flying as a passenger on a United Air Lines 727 jetliner that crashed into Lake Michigan on August 16, 1965. Materials are arranged in chronological order.

Judge Irwin N. Cohen donated these materials to the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1968.

Legal Disclaimer: This collection contains legal papers. The burden of ethics lies with the researcher to not reveal private or confidential client information. Please alert a librarian to any content you find questionable.

Judge Irwin N. Cohen papers, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Illinois at Chicago

  • Names
    • Chicago (Ill.). City Council. Emergency Committee on Crime.
    • Cohen, Irwin N. -- Archives
  • Subject
    • Chicago Political and Civic Life.
    • Judges.
  • Geographic CoverageIllinois.