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John Dennis Lane
Washington Lawyer, WWII Veteran
John Dennis Lane, a Washington lawyer, died peacefully on August 18, 2012. He was born in Norwalk, Connecticut in 1921, son of John J. and Theresa Donnelly Lane. He attended local public schools, including Norwalk High School, which recognized him as a Distinguished Alumnus and added him to their Wall of Honor in 2004. He earned his Bachelor of Science from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in 1943. While at Georgetown, following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, John joined the United States Marine Corps, serving in the reserves while he completed his undergraduate degree.
In 1943, John was called to active duty in World War II, ultimately serving proudly in the Pacific on the staff of the Commanding General of the Fleet Marine Force. After the war ended, John returned to Georgetown University on the GI Bill, earning his law degree in 1948. It was during law school that John met and fell in love with Elizabeth J. Galliher, a native Washingtonian, and they were married in 1949.
After a brief stint with the Internal Revenue Service, John joined the staff of the late United States Senator Brien McMahon, Democrat of Connecticut, in 1949. Serving first as Executive Secretary and later as Administrative Assistant, John worked as a member of Senator McMahon's staff until the Senator's untimely death in 1952. The Senator played a leadership role in establishing civilian control over nuclear energy and weapons.
John started an independent law firm in Washington, DC in 1952, later becoming a founding partner of Hedrick & Lane, which merged to form Wilkes, Artis, Hedrick & Lane in 1982. John specialized in communications law and was regarded as an expert on public-safety communications. His work had far-reaching impact, and included a landmark case on behalf of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) to reserve space on the UHF spectrum for two-way radios used by fire and police departments.
In another notable case in John's career, he represented independent television station owners in a multi-year battle with the major television networks over syndication rights and prime-time programming. He successfully made the case to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that the networks were dominating prime-time programming to the point of monopoly. The FCC's ruling led to new “prime-time access rules” to open up the prime television hours in the early evenings for local network broadcasting.
In a separate case involving the networks, John represented President Jimmy Carter after the three major television networks refused to sell him airtime to announce his re-election campaign in 1979. John argued the case in front of the FCC and later in the U.S. Court of Appeals. The FCC's decision in favor of President Carter, now known as the “reasonable access” rule, was upheld by the Court of Appeals and, later, upheld again by the United States Supreme Court. John was pleased to share these and other legal experiences with law students as a Distinguished Practitioner on the faculty of the Communications Law Institute at The Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law.
Throughout his career, John was very active in the legal community, chairing several committees of the American Bar Association and serving two terms as a member of the ABA's prestigious Committee on the Federal Judiciary, evaluating nominees for judgeships in the U.S. Court system. In this capacity, John testified before Congressional committees on multiple occasions, including his support for the 1986 nomination of Justice William Rehnquist to be Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. During the administration of President Bill Clinton, John was appointed to the Office of White House Counsel to advise the President on the selection of judicial nominees. He was honored to travel to Pearl Harbor on Air Force One with President Clinton in 1995 for the 50th anniversary of V-J Day.
John served as the ABA's representative to the United Nations, participating in the UN Conference in Rome in 1998 that established the International Criminal Court. He also served for several years as the president of the Federal Communications Bar Association. In 1999, APCO awarded the J. Rhett McMillian Award of Distinction to John for his contributions as senior counsel to the organization for more than 20 years. For several decades, he was a parishioner of The Church of the Little Flower in Bethesda MD, a member of The Metropolitan Club in Washington, DC, Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, MD, and Sugar Mill Country Club in New Smyrna Beach, FL.
John's wife of 62 years, the late Elizabeth G. Lane, died peacefully in 2011 in the home they had built in Northwest Washington. They were blessed with and are survived by their five children, Elizabeth L. Brown (Bret) of Bethesda, MD, John D. Lane, Jr. (Bev) of Great Falls, VA, Margaret L. Rauth (Jay) of Washington, DC, Robert E. Lane (Tobey) of Bethesda, MD, and Paul G. Lane (Julie) of Bethesda, MD, as well as eleven grandchildren. John is also survived by his brother, William D. Lane (Rosemary) of Norwalk, CT and Margaret L. Quinlan of Bridgeport, CT. The Lane family is grateful to Marietta Copada and Gertrude Tasarira for their years of devotion and care.
A Mass of Christian Burial and interment will be held on Friday, August 24, 2012 at 10 am at the Church of the Little Flower, 5607 Massachusetts Avenue, Bethesda, MD. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in John's name to Catholic Charities, 924 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001.
Published in The Hour from August 24 to August 26, 2012
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