Wikipedia:Peer review/Sherman Minton/archive1

Sherman Minton

This peer review discussion has been closed.

The article just failed to pass an FAC review. I think it is pretty good overall, but would appreciate any feedback, especially in the judicial sections as I am not a lawyer, I fear I may be missing an obvious point there. Of course any advice is very welcome.

Thanks, —Charles Edward ^{(Talk | Contribs)} 15:12, 22 March 2010 (UTC)

I'm going to watchlist this as I never got the chance to give it a second run through at FAC, but I'd like to see someone else weigh in first. If this closes and I haven't commented, please drop me a note on my talk page.--Wehwalt (talk) 21:05, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

Ruhrfisch comments: So far this reads very well in my opinion, here are some nit-picky suggestions for improvement.

• Does one really get in trouble with a whole neighborhood? As Minton grew older, he continued getting into trouble with [people in?] the neighborhood.
• Would it help add context for the reader by adding years and/or ages, for example in He received his basic education at a two-room schoolhouse in Georgetown, which he attended through eighth grade.[7][8] and perhaps add his age here Minton first attended the Edwardsville High School in 1905,...
• Link American football in There he played on the football, baseball and track teams.
• I assume the Jackson Club was for Democratic party members? Could this be made clearer in Despite the workload, he joined the school's baseball team and debate team, and participated in the Jackson Club and Phi Delta Theta.
• graduate school? Surely he completed his undergraduate degree? He completed graduate school at the top of his class in 1913 and moved on to Benjamin Harrison School of Law...
• Awkward - missing word (officers training course?) or extra word (He too officers training) He took an officers training at Fort Benjamin Harrison in hope of earning a commission, but was not among those awarded.
• I would clarify that Miami is in Florida in After the loss, he briefly joined the law firm of Stonsenburg and Weathers, two politically active lawyers, before moving to Miami where he joined another firm.
• Missing word? Minton delivered a six [minute?] radio addresses on behalf of his party in support of the bill, but public opinion could not be swayed in the Democrats' favor.[68]
• This is a personal thing (growing is not transitive, IMO) - could He advocated and supported growing the American military and believed that American entry into the war was inevitable... be something like He advocated and supported increasing the size of the American military...?
• Awkward Minton personally stated on several times his preference to affirm to the lower courts. either remove "on" or change "times" to "occasions"?
• Missing word? Minton abhorred racial segregation and provided a solid vote to strike down the school segregation practices at issue in 1954's Brown v. Board of Education[, which?] was among the few decisions in which he sided against the government.[129][136][137]
• Needs work, not sure how to fix it myself Minton did not particularly enjoy his judicial role on the Supreme Court in the later years as he found himself more frequently in the minority following the deaths of Justices Frank Murphy and Wiley B. Rutledge and their replacement by Eisenhower appointees.[154][155] Probably needs to be split into two sentences
• Don't need to say court twice here Minton played an important role behind the scenes of the court as a peacemaker between the two opposing factions on the court.[160]
• Try tweaking this too: During his time as an associate justice, there was considerable personal animosity between the two wings of the court that at times escalated to where members refused to speak to each other for periods of time. perhaps to something like During his time as an associate justice, there was considerable personal animosity between the two wings of the court; at times this escalated to the point where members refused to speak to each other.
• I would mention the federal office building in the lead too (not just the bridge)
• Is the photo of the statue really a free image? Isn't the statue a copyrighted work of art? I think it would be OK as a fair use image.
• I would briefly identify Linda Gugin - is she a law professor? A historian? A judge?

Hope this helps - please let me know when this is at FAC again. If my comments are useful, please consider peer reviewing an article, especially one at Wikipedia:Peer review/backlog (which is how I found this article). I do not watch peer reviews, so if you have questions or comments, please contact me on my talk page. Yours, Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 03:02, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

PS I reread the article now and think I might split the third paragraph and add to the new fourth paragraph. I think perhaps the fourth paragraph could be legacy and include the bridge, building, even the statehouse statue. I would also include something of the opinions scholars have about him - how he was oddly very liberal as a senator, yet very conservative as a justice. I think it would also be worth including that historians of the supreme court rank him very low in terms of his tenure there. Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 12:41, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

PPS I am not an expert on law. The discussion of the various cases read OK for the most part to me, but I am no expert (I think I recall what Marbury v. Madison and the Dred Scott cases were about, but they were both well before his time). Ruhrfisch _><>°^° 19:56, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for taking the time to review the article. I appreciate your feedback! —Charles Edward ^{(Talk | Contribs)} 17:46, 13 April 2010 (UTC)