Lawrence Aloysius Whipple

Title: District Court
Appointed by: Lyndon B. Johnson
Judicial Tenure: 1967 - 1983
Served as Chief Judge: 1974-1978
Born: July 26, 1910
Birth Place: New York, NY
Died: June 8, 1983
Place of Death: Red Bank, NJ

Whipple was born in New York, New York. He received a B.S. from Columbia University in 1933. He received an LL.B. from John Marshall Law School, New Jersey in 1939. He was a Private practice from 1939 to 1949. He was an Acting U.S. Magistrate, U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey from 1949 to 1951. He was a Director, Law Enforcement, OPS in 1950. He was a Special assistant U.S. Attorney of Department of Justice in 1951. He was an Executive director, Jersey City Housing Authority, New Jersey in 1953. He was a Director of public safety, Jersey City, New Jersey from 1953 to 1957. He was a Director, Department of Revenue and Finance, Jersey City, New Jersey in 1957. He was a County counsel, Hudson County, New Jersey from 1957 to 1958. He was a Deputy attorney general of New Jersey in 1958. He was a Prosecutor, Hudson County, New Jersey from 1958 to 1962. He was a judge on the Superior Court of New Jersey from 1963 to 1967.

Whipple was a federal judge on the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. Whipple was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 25, 1967, to a seat vacated by Thomas F. Meaney. Judge Whipple presided over the case of Nelson G. Gross, a former state Republican Chairman and State Department aide in the Nixon administration, on charges of Fraud and Tax Evasion. In 1979, demonstrating the concern for constitutional rights that marked many of his opinions, Judge Whipple blocked efforts by the United States Post Service to record the names and addresses on letters sent to groups under investigation on grounds of national security. He ruled the term "National Security" to be "vague" and "over-broad" and subject to abuse by "over-zealous" federal officials.

Whipple served as chief judge from 1974-1978. He became a senior judge on September 1, 1978, serving in that role until his death in 1983.