U.S. Appeals Court judges: from protest to power; 11 Blacks sit on the nation's second-highest judicial reviewing authority

Ebony, August, 1989

U.S. APPEALS COURT JUDGES: FROM PROTEST TO POWER

TWENTY-FIVE years ago, many of them were activists in the civil rights struggle. They were crusading young attorneys, using their legal acumen to help pry open doors that had for too long remained shut to Black Americans. Little did they realize that the civil rights revolution would open the gilded doors of the judiciary and make it possible for them to occupy seats on the second-highest court in the nation.

Yet today, 11 Blacks sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals, the reviewing body that ranks just below the U.S. Supreme court in judicial authority. They are among the 152 judges stationed throughout the country in 12 federal jurisdictions called circuits. They hear cases elevated on appeal from federal district courts. They also review decisions involving federal administrative agencies such as the Security and Exchange Commission and the National Labor Relations Board.

The weight of their decisions is great, for it is usually from a U.S. Court of appeals that the U.S. Supreme Court selects the few cases that it reviews. Since the Supreme Court tends only to rule on those cases that pose an important legal question, a U.S. Court of Appeals is the final arbiter in a great many legal disputes. "For most people, we are the court of last resort," says Judge A. Leon Higginbotham, 3rd Circuit, Philadelphia, who is one of the longest-tenured Black federal judges in the country.

The U.S. Court of Appeals also has gained significance as a proving ground for prospective U.S. Supreme Court justices. It is from the ranks of the federal appeals court that many presidents select nominees for the nation's highest court when vacancies arise.

The 11 Blacks who currently sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals are as distinct as they are distinguished. They are graduates of some of the nation's most prestigious law schools and have gained formidable reputations as litigators and as legal scholars.

Despite the esteem in which they are held, many of them worry that they are the last of a fading breed. "There are two categories of endangered species in America right now," says Judge Nathaniel Jones, 6th Circuit, Cincinnati, "Black males and Black judges."

Black appointments to the federal bench stalled considerably during the eight years of the Reagan administration. Of the Blacks who currently sit on the federal appeals court, all but two were either appointed or elevated to the court by former President Jimmy Carter. Judge Spottswood Robinson of the D.C. Circuit was elevated to the court by the late President Lyndon Johnson. Judge Lawrence Pierce of the 2nd Circuit, New York, was nominated by former President Ronald Reagan.

Many Black judges fear that their already small numbers will fall off radically in the next decade.

Yet, they remain committed to being a part of a judiciary that reflects the diversity of the country. As judge Damon Keith, 6th Circuit, Detroit, states, "We can't become complacent or too disenchanted with the situation as it is now. We simply have to work at every level to ensure that the bench has just representation from minority communities."