Source: http://archives.lib.cua.edu/findingaid/ball.cfm
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 16:13:36+00:00

Document:
Abstract: The William Bentley Ball Papers contain publications, correspondence, research material, personal effects, and photographs largely documenting his law career and his cases before the supreme court.
William Bentley Ball was born October 6, 1916 in Rochester, New York, although his family soon moved to Cleveland, Ohio. He then attended Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve University), where he served as the President of the Young Americanist League, opposing communist, fascist, socialist groups. Following his graduation, Ball served in the 107th Cavalry Regiment of the Ohio National Guard, as well as joining the US Navy when the United States entered World War II, serving aboard the USS Quincy. By the time he left the navy at the end of the war, Ball had reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
Following the end of WWII, Ball began studying law at the University of Notre Dame, where he served as an editor of the Notre Dame Law Review and as German instructor. Following school Ball began to practice corporate law for W. R. Grace Co. and Pfizer Drug Co.. He left the practice in 1955 to teach constitutional law at Villanova University. In 1960, Ball left the university to begin serving as general counsel for the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, the public policy wing of the Roman Catholic Church in Pennsylvania. In addition he founded his own law practice; Ball, Skelly, Murren, and Connell, with which he was affiliated with for the rest of his life. Ball was called to PCC due to his strong Catholic faith and his expertise and passion about the 1st Amendment and Church-State Relations. In 1967, Ball worked on his first Supreme Court case, Loving v. Virginia, entering a brief on behalf of 25 Catholic bishops on the unconstitutionality of anti-miscegenation laws. Ball was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court in 1969 and, in all, Ball argued 9 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court: Lemon v. Kurtzman, Wisconsin v. Yoder, Sloan v. Lemon, Meek v. Pittenger, California v. Grace Brethren Church, Bob Jones University v. United States, Ohio Civil Rights Commission v. Dayton Christian Schools, and Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School District. He had a win/loss margin in these cases of 5/3. Ball additionally assisted with 25 others Supreme Court cases; as well as giving his testimony during the debate of numerous state and federal bills concerning the 1st Amendment.
The Supreme Court case that brought Ball to the national forefront was the State of Wisconsin v. Jonas Yoder, Wallace Miller, and Adin Yutzy. In 1972, the Yoder, Miller, and Yutzy families were members of the Wisconsin Amish community, who wanted their children to stop attending New Glarus High School in the New Glarus, Wisconsin; following their completion of the 8th grade. The Amish believe that high school or college education is against their religion, and that further education is unnecessary for their life and harmful to their beliefs. This view led to conflict with state and national compulsory education laws, leading to the families being fined by the county, after which they appealed to the state Supreme Court. After the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Amish families, the case was brought to the supreme court. Ball successfully argued that to force Amish children to go to school past the 8th grade was a violation of their religious beliefs.
Ball’s actions during the Yoder case propelled him to the forefront of Church-State issues, writing over 200 articles and books on the subject. In 1974, Ball visited the Vatican where he was made a knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great for his services to the Catholic Church and faith. In 1986, following the ascension of William Rehnquist to Chief Justice, William Ball was one of many considered for the Associate Justice seat that went to Antonin Scalia. When not practicing law, Ball would teach and serve as a guest lecturer and commencement speaker throughout the country, receiving seven honorary degrees from various institutions.
Ball’s final case before the Supreme Court was the 1993 case of Zobrest ET AL. v. Catalina Foothills School District. James Zobrest was an Arizonan teen deaf since birth, who had been educated up until 8th grade at public schools, where he was provided a sign-language interpreter by the school board. However when he began to attend a Catholic high school, the district refuse to continue supplying a translator. Ball challenged the proposal, saying that it was a violation of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, winning the case.
In his later years, Ball continued to write articles and give addresses on the 1st Amendment and the Separation of Church and State. He died January 10th, 1999 after a short illness.
The William Bentley Ball Papers contain publications, case files, correspondence, personal effects, and photographs largely documenting his legal career arguing 1st Amendment cases before the Supreme Court, as well as his support for various bills dealing with the 1st Amendment, religious education, and other issues.
Series 1 (Box 1) focuses on William Ball’s personal life, containing bibliographic information. This includes awards, correspondence, obituaries, photos, and information on his service in the navy. The range of these items is from 1922-2007.
Series 2 (Boxes 2-5) contains legal documents pertaining to Ball’s career arguing before the Supreme Court. This includes briefs and notes dealing with the 9 cases he himself argued: Lemon v. Kurtzman, Wisconsin v. Yoder, Sloan v. Lemon, Meek v. Pittenger, California v. Grace Brethren Church, Bob Jones University v. United States, Ohio Civil Rights Commission v. Dayton Christian Schools, and Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School District. In addition, we have information on 25 other Supreme Court cases that Ball aided with, as well as statements, opinions, and petitions dealing with smaller legal cases and bills. These cases span the length of Ball’s legal career from 1958-1997.
Series 3 (Boxes 6-11) is the largest series in the collection, contain the various publications written by Ball or associated with him. Subseries 3.1 (Boxes 6-8) contains almost an entire catalogue of all the writings of William Bentley Ball, including articles, addresses, reviews, and books, spanning from 1938-1999. Subseries 3.2 (Box 9) contains articles written about Ball and his legal cases, including reviews of his books, spanning from 1963-2002. Subseries 3.3 (Box 10) contains fascist, communist, and socialist publications and articles, collected by Ball during his involvement in the Young Americanists League in the 1930s-1940s. Subseries 3.4 (Box 11) contains miscellaneous publications, primarily consisting of books relating to his field and works from his personal library. These works span from 1712-2011.
Series 4 (Boxes 12-14) consists of ephemera, most of which were items from Ball’s office. This includes photographs, awards, and lithographs; as well as medals and other items obtained by Ball during his military service. Items in the collection are from 1940-2012.
Series 5 (Box 15) contains audiovisual material relating to Ball, primarily recordings of interviews and court cases. Recorded on compact cassettes, VHS cassette, and DVDs, and all date from the 1990s.
Series 6 (Boxes 16-18) contains oversized documents. Box 16 contains diplomas and oversized papers. Box 17 contains framed photographs and awards. Box 18 contains oversized extremist literature.
Donated by Virginia Duncan (daughter) and Faith and Action, DC in 2017.
Processing completed in August 2017 by Austin Arminio. EAD markup completed in September 2017 by Austin Arminio.
This series consists largely of materials relating to Ball's personal life, containing awards, biographical documents, correspondence, and photos.
This series contains material related to William Bentley Ball's court cases and work on the passage of laws. In addition to court briefs, this includes Amicus Curiae, opinions, petitions, statements, testimonies, and witness lists.
This series contains material related to publications in William Bentley Ball's collection written by him, about him, or relating to his research. Correspondence is divided into four subseries. Subseries 3.1 contains publications by William Bentley Ball in journals, magazines, and books, as well as speeches and addresses made by him. Subseries 3.2 contains articles written about him and his work, including book reviews. Subseries 3.3 contains publications relating to fascist, communist, and socialist groups compiled by Ball in the 1930s and 1940s. Subseries 3.4 contains miscellaneous publications in Ball's collection.
This series contains material related to William Bentley Ball's ephemera. This includes personal items from his office, photos, and awards.
Envelope contains WWII 50th Anniversary Sea Service Veterans Pin, Two 107th Armored Cavalry Regiment Pins, a $1 US Naval Officer’s Club Military Chit, Photo of Ball as an Apprentice Seaman in the US Navy, a 2 shilling note from the Crown Colony of Malta, a US Army Cavalry Pin, and a US Navy uniform button.
This series contains audiovisual materials relating to William Bentley Ball, such as interviews and legal cases.
This series consists of oversized items from the collection. This includes awards, photos, and oversized extremist publications.
Series 2: Cases and Laws 1958-1997, Undated.
Series 3: Publications, 1712,(1919-1999, 2011, Undated.
Series 4: Ephemera, 1940-2012, Undated.
Series 5: Audiovisual, 1940-2012, Undated.

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