Frank Johnson Civil rights judge, 1918-1999 When a black seamstress, Rosa Parks, refused to surrender her bus seat to a white passenger in Alabama in 1955, she had little idea of the social revolution she was launching. In the ensuing court case, Judge Frank Johnson, who has died aged 80, knew exactly where he was heading. He ruled the bus company's segregation of its passengers was unconstitutional - a significant extension of the US Supreme Court's 1954 ruling against school segregation. It was the first of many ground-breaking interpretations of the law through which Johnson transformed the social and political climate of the American South. In one case, involving official trickery and intimidation against black voters, he ruled that blacks need meet no higher standard than that of the least-qualified white, a formula later enshrined in Federal law. When State courts refused to convict murderers of civil rights activists, Johnson imposed long jail sentences for the Federal offence of violating the victims' civil rights, a procedure then widely imitated by other Federal judges. This activist stance brought him repeated death threats and into bitter conflict with his old college friend, the reactionary governor of Alabama, George Wallace. At one time, the impact of Johnson's rulings was so great he was described as the real governor of the State. Before his death last year, Wallace, who had abandoned his racist stance, tried to restore the old friendship, but the judge rejected his overtures. "If he wants to get forgiveness, he'll have to get it from the Lord," Johnson said. This rigid adherence to principles was in line with Johnson's established professional stance. Though a relaxed and convivial companion in private, he was renowned among lawyers for the formality of his court. He rarely raised his voice, but enforced total submission to the law. Judge Johnson's spiky independence was probably encouraged by his family background. Frank Minis Johnson jnr grew up in an area of Alabama contrary enough to support the North during the American Civil War, and even to attempt secession from the Confederacy. His own politics were more conventional, although still out of step with most of the South at the time. After volunteering during the Second World War, Johnson returned to his legal practice and joined the local Republican Party (a small band in those days, with his father its only State elected representative). In 1955, just as the US Supreme Court opened the floodgates to national desegregation, Johnson was appointed to the Federal bench. The Montgomery bus case was the first in a pattern he followed for the next 37 years. In case after case, he extended the provisions of the 14th amendment, passed in the aftermath of the Civil War and decreeing that "no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens". Johnson had an early run-in with Wallace when, as a local circuit judge, Wallace refused to hand over to the US civil rights commission documents that revealed the discriminatory nature of voter registration. Johnson, the Federal judge for the area, stunned Wallace with the threat of a long jail sentence if he did not release the documents. Amid much public bluster, Wallace caved in. In the face of repeated police violence against civil rights demonstrators, Johnson issued the court order that allowed Martin Luther King to lead the historic 1965 protest march from Selma to Montgomery. Johnson then embarked on a frontal assault against racism and other human rights abuses in Alabama's institutions. He ordered blacks and women be allowed on juries, extended legal representation for the poor and abolished the poll tax. On the broader scene, he imposed desegregation on a range of public facilities, from toilets to restaurants and parks. One of his most important decisions, which led to a key judgment by the Supreme Court, was to outlaw the gerrymandering of Alabama's electoral districts, which became the law throughout the US. He is survived by his wife Ruth, whom he married in 1938. - Harold Jackson, The Guardian, London This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited. ------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/
