You might never have heard of the man. He helped drag Texas out of the 19th century, though some will maintain that there are disturbingly large portions of our populace that are still there. If there was a man in Texas that was more hated or more vilified I would be hard pressed to find him. Well, maybe Jerry Jones after he fired Tom Landry. It might be a toss up between those two.
Judge Justice was born in Athens in 1920 and grew up in East Texas. He was responsible for hard decisions that forced Texas and the rest of America to recognize some of the poorest and most down-trodden of our society.
After only two years on the bench, he ordered the state in 1970 to eliminate racial segregation in public schools after many districts ignored desegregation federal policies. That ruling, U.S. v. Texas, affected more than 1,000 school districts and 2 million students statewide.
Justice ordered Texas to provide free public education for illegal immigrants and their children following a class action lawsuit filed in September 1977. The suit accused East Texas' Smith County of excluding children of Mexican decent from public schools because they couldn't show legal U.S. residency. Appeals led to a landmark 1982 Supreme Court ruling that extended the right nationwide.
and this one
Justice took control of the Texas prison system after a 1972 lawsuit filed by inmate David Ruiz alleged overcrowding and inhumane conditions. After a nearly year-long trial in 1980, Justice issued a sweeping 188-page ruling that said Texas prisons were overcrowded, understaffed and offered inadequate medical care. Justice also found that prison officials tolerated rampant violence among inmates, guards and inmates who worked as guards under a generations-old system known as building tenders.
From the Dallas Morning News
It is typical of the reaction to the man and his decisions that the comments have been disabled on the story. He was a pariah in Tyler where he lived and the Eastern District has its court. It wasn't too long after he moved there that he and the missus had to go elsewhere to get a haircut or visit the beauty parlor. They stopped going to church because they were told they weren't welcome there anymore.
The applie didn't fall too far from the tree either,
His father, William D. Justice, was an outspoken and flamboyant Athens, Texas, attorney with a reputation for populist politics, a willingness to take on unpopular cases and a refusal to reject clients for inability to pay.
On one occasion, a white man shot a black murder defendant in a crowded courtroom. Will Justice cradled the dying man in his arms as he shamed bystanders into providing aid, Justice said of his father.
"I'm just a pale reflection of my father," Justice said in 1998. "Now there was a man."
The Houston Chronicle has another telling quote from the man,
The sweeping rulings brought the mild-mannered jurist death threats and calls for impeachment. But he also received many accolades, including being the first honoree of the Morris Dees Justice Award in November 2006.
"I’m basically a very shy, retiring person, but fate has put me in a situation where I’ve been in the midst of controversy," Justice told biographer Frank Kemerer in a 1991 book. "Controversy is now kind of a way of life with me. But I have never particularly liked it."
Kemerer wrote that Justice was "not averse to pushing the law beyond existing precedents to promote individual rights and to render a measure of human dignity for those most disfavored in society."
This is how I some of us from Texas will remember the man,
(4)
crimefighter1 wrote:
judge justice thank you for bringing humanity to the prison system,your rulings on the court helped so many that were considered society's downtrodden but the mainstream of society has benefitted the most.your rulings benefitted mhmr because so many were incarcerated with mental illness and other behavior disorders.your rulings helped to integrate the school systems enabling so many to get a quality education,those that benefitted many went on to become lawyers,doctors,teachers,business persons and other professional positions and made a better life for themselves, enabling them to become members of society's mainstream affording them to educate their offsprings to attend some of the nations better colleges and universities.thank you for bringing a penal system into modern society and removing the stigma of one of the dark ages.judge justice thank you for having the courage to withstand the hate and bigotry that was tossed you way by cowards who sought intimadtion tactics rather than sit and discuss the issues.that same intimidation tactic you withstood has reared it's ugly head once again by people who are unwilling to talk or listen.thank you for having the forsight to see how each citizen would benefit from your rulings,and just not the poor and downtrodden but mainstream society as a whole has benefitted the most.judge justice rest in peace for you have done a wonderful job.amen.
10/14/2009 1:17:53 PM
Houston Chronicle
And finally Harold Cook, Letters From Texas
He treated the law as a weapon on behalf of those short of any other ammunition, and he delivered most of his landmark decisions from a courthouse in conservative East Texas, where his neighbors reacted to Justice's actions with scorn and death threats, all of which he happily ignored.
If you ever read about him in the newspaper, it was probably in the context of conservatives using him as their poster child as they scream "activist judges!," when those same conservative Republicans don't mind judicial activism when it furthers their own conservative causes.
This is one of those activist judges without a doubt and where would we be without him or them.