John W. Davis and his role in the public school segregation cases - A personal memoir

Washington and Lee Law Review, 1996 by Thompson, Sydnor

III. An Assessment

How should one characterize Davis the lawyer and Davis the man? There can be no doubt that he was one of the outstanding American lawyers of all time. His record of appearances before the United States Supreme Court is unequaled in this century. As an appellate advocate, he had no peers.(48) A paper he delivered to the Association of the Bar of New York, The Argument of an Appeal, is considered the definitive statement on the subject.(49) When Davis appeared before the Supreme Court, he was shown a unique degree of deference. He invariably received the rapt attention of the Justices -- even in his last appearance in the Briggs case, in which all the cards were stacked against him. Fortune magazine aptly said of him that he was noted for a "calm, gracious and modest elucidation of complex matters."(50)

Even Davis's opponents acknowledged his excellence. Thurgood Marshall accepted the view that Davis was motivated by his reverence for states' rights in his enthusiasm for the South Carolina cause. "He was a great advocate, the greatest," said Marshall.(51)

From time to time, other lawyers retained Davis to render legal opinions on matters with which their clients were concerned but as to which they wished to avoid litigation.' They readily agreed to accept his opinion as final.

In my own experience as Davis's "friend and helpmate,"(53) I knew him as a warm and kindly mentor who, despite his unchallenged stature as the dean of the American bar, was always quick to put me at ease. Others also found him extraordinarily gracious. Judge Learned Hand once remarked that he had to steel himself against Davis's special charm for fear of deciding in his favor without regard to the merits of the case.(54)

If in retrospect Davis may have appeared insensitive to the emotional and psychological needs of African-Americans, it was a trait common to many of us who shared his Southern upbringing. Fortunately, time has provided our generation an opportunity to do penance for its once myopic views. And, with whatever justification, the Warren Court fiat has led the way to a higher justice.

Perhaps the most vivid and lasting impression I have of the man whom most of his partners addressed as "Mr. Davis" is that which King George V reportedly said of him: "He was the most perfect gentleman I ever met."(55) No doubt that quality served him well in achieving near perfection as a lawyer. Surely in John W. Davis the consummate gentleman met the consummate professional, in defeat as well as in victory. Perhaps that is a prescription for curing many of the ills that beset our contemporary Bar.

1. (Brown v. Board of Educ.), 347 U.S. 483 (1954).

2. Philip Elman, The Solicitor General's Office, Justice Frankfurter, and Civil Rights Litigation, 1946-1960: An Oral History, 100 HARV. L. REV. 817, 837 (1986) (interview by Norman Silber).

3. GERALD GUNTHER, LEARNED HAND: THE MAN AND THE JUDGE 461 (1994).

4. JACK GREENBERG, CRUSADERS IN THE COURTS 197 (1994).

5. RICHARD KLUGER, SIMPLE JUSTICE 709 (1975).