James Andrew Jacobs Sr.

(Feb. 22, 1906-Dec. 17, 1992). Born in Perry County, Indiana, James Andrew Jacobs Sr. attended Benjamin Harrison Law School (later incorporated into the Indiana University School of Law) in Indianapolis beginning in 1926. He was admitted to the bar in 1927 and started practicing with a local firm prior to graduating at the top of his class in 1928. Jacobs served as a public defender in Marion County Felony Court from 1930 to 1933.

During the 1936-1937 General Motors (GM) Sit-Down strike in Anderson, Jacobs defended workers who were arrested for their attempts to organize unions. The strike, which took place at the GM Delco Remy Guide Lamp divisions, resulted from the United Auto Workers Association’s decision to organize the automobile industry. Defending GM Guide Lamp workers earned Jacobs a reputation as a labor lawyer.

Jacobs represented Indiana’s 11th Congressional District from 1949 to 1951 and served as a member of the House Committee on Education and Labor and chair of the subcommittee on Democracy in Unions. In 1950, he made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic Party U.S. Senate nomination and that fall failed to win reelection to the House. After an unsuccessful attempt to win the Democratic nomination for mayor in 1952, he returned to private practice.

Jacobs was elected to the Marion County Superior Court in 1974 and assigned to the criminal division. He quickly earned a reputation as a tough judge, causing many defendants to seek reassignment from his courtroom. In 1975, he tried 127 jury trials in 131 days. He resigned in protest when ordered by the Indiana Supreme Court to grant a change of judge to three defendants, but Governor Otis Bowen persuaded him to reconsider.

Jacobs presided over 157 jury trials in 159 days during 1976 and in April of 1977 again resigned in protest after the Supreme Court once more refused to modify the change of judge rule. The following year Jacobs lost as the Democratic candidate for Marion County prosecutor to Stephen Goldsmith, later mayor of Indianapolis. As a longtime civil rights advocate, he served on the Indiana Bar Association Committee on the Bill of Rights and Labor Law. Jacobs was the father of Andy Jacobs Jr., a U.S. congressman who represented portions of Indianapolis-Marion County 1965-1973 and from 1975 until 1997.

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