Julius Hoffman

Julius J. Hoffman (July 7, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was a Chicago, Illinois, attorney and judge and former law partner of Richard J. Daley who achieved notoriety for his role in the Chicago Seven trial.

Hoffman attended Lewis Institute and Northwestern University before being admitted to the bar in 1915. He worked as an associate and partner of the firm White and Hawxhurst until 1936, when he became general counsel for the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, where he remained until 1944 when he joined the law firm of Markheim, Hoffman, Hungerford & Sollo. In 1947, he was elected judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County. When his term expired, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Hoffman to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago. Over the course of his career as a judge, Hoffman presided over numerous important cases, including a tax evasion case against Tony Accardo, an obscenity case against Lenny Bruce, a deportation suit against alleged Nazi war criminal Frank Walus, and several desegregation suits.

His most famous case, however, was the trial from April 9, 1969 to February 20, 1970 that involved charges against protesters arrested during the 1968 Democratic Convention, originally known as the "Chicago Eight". During the course of the Chicago Eight trial, Hoffman refused to allow defendant Bobby Seale to represent himself after Seale's original attorney became ill. This prompted conflicts with Seale that led to Hoffman ordering Seale to be gagged and shackled in the courtroom and eventually jailed for contempt. Finally Hoffman removed Seale from the trial, leaving the case with only seven defendants, at which point the trial became known as the "Chicago Seven" trial. Judge Hoffman became the favorite courtroom target of the Chicago Seven defendants, who often openly insulted the judge.Abbie Hoffman (no relation) told Judge Hoffman "you are a shande fur de Goyim [disgrace in front of the Gentiles]. You would have served Hitler better." He later added that "your idea of justice is the only obscenity in the room." Both Davis and Rubin told the Judge "this court is bullshit."

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