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In 1949, Sirica joined one of Washington's major conservative law firms, Hogan & Hartson, quickly becoming its best trial lawyer. "He was not an especially learned attorney," recalls one partner. "But he won a lot of cases he shouldn't have because of his sincere manner." In 1952, at the age of 47, Sirica, long accustomed to a livery bachelorhood, married Lucile Camalier, 28. His best man was a lifelong friend from his boxing days, Jack Dempsey. Lucy promptly offered some career-saving advice, urging him to turn down an offer by Joseph McCarthy to become majority counsel for the Wisconsin Senator's rampaging Government Operations Committee. Otherwise, Sirica admits, he would have accepted. "I really liked Joe McCarthy, although we didn't always see eye to eye."
Active in Republican politics and a frequent advocate before Italian groups for such presidential candidates as Thomas Dewey, Wendell Willkie and Dwight Eisenhower, Sirica was appointed a federal judge by Eisenhower in 1957. "Hell, yes, I'm a Republican," he still says. "You can't change a fellow's feelings just because you give him a judicial robe. But when I get on the bench, then I'm nothing. Politics is out then. Then it's my duty to search for the truth."
Out of court, Sirica lives a relatively spartan existence. He regularly rises at 5 a.m. or even earlier (having gone to bed about 10 p.m.), avidly reads newspapers and newsmagazines ("I have a great respect for columnists—everybody from James Kilpatrick to Carl Rowan —they're all solid Americans") and arrives well prepared for his day's work after predawn study. A mediocre golfer who is pleased when he breaks 100, Sirica has wavy black hair, an erect bearing, and a healthy complexion that makes him appear some 15 years younger than his 69. The Siricas have three children: Jack, 20, Patricia, 17, and Eileen, 11.
To a large extent, Sirica's life is the law. In that work, he tends to favor the prosecution, and he is particularly stern with the white-collar criminal. "I don't think a person should get special treatment just because he's had advantages in life." Above all, Sirica cherishes his independence as a federal judge. "When the founding fathers wrote in the Constitution that judicial terms shall be, during good behavior, for life," he says, "wasn't that a wonderful thing? They gave us freedom to follow our conscience."