Douglas Rooks: Case against Melville Fuller still not proven
The record of the only Mainer to serve as U.S. chief justice is not as clear as some believe.
By Douglas Rooks
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The fate of Melville Fuller or at least the statue representing him near the Kennebec County courthouse will remain undecided at year’s end.
Despite some fiery testimony at a Dec. 1 online hearing, the Kennebec County Commissioners appear in no hurry to decide the request that the Fuller statue be relocated, initiated by Acting Chief Justice Andrew Mead on behalf of the Maine judiciary.
One can see the judges’ point. In one of the dispute’s several ironies, the Judicial Branch declined to sanction the likeness of the only Mainer to serve as U.S. chief justice, donated by a Fuller descendant in 2013, on new courthouse land. It was then accepted by the county commissioners on county-owned land in front of the old courthouse what the judges see as the “gateway” to their new Capital Judici