Robert R. Merhige Jr.
Robert Reynold Merhige Jr. (born February 5, 1919 in New York City , † February 18, 2005 in Richmond , Virginia ) was an American lawyer and federal judge .
Merhige completed his law degree in 1942 and served in the US Air Force during World War II . After the war he was successful as a criminal defense lawyer . President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him a judge on the Federal District Court for Eastern Virginia in 1967 .
In this capacity, Merhige declared in several decisions at the beginning of the 1970s that the new division of school districts to overcome racial segregation and the highly controversial busing of schoolchildren by bus to more distant schools for the purpose of integration were necessary and constitutional.
The judge received death threats and had to be placed under police protection at times. Violent opponents of his decisions shot Merhiges dog and burned part of his private property. Only one of his integration decisions was later overturned by the Supreme Court after the decision resulted in a stalemate in the US Supreme Court. (One of the nine judges did not take part in the vote because of bias.)
Merhige remained a symbolic figure in the controversy over racial integration that continues to this day in the USA. In 1998 he retired as a federal judge and worked until the end as a senior partner in a law firm . He died as a result of heart surgery.
literature
- Ronald J. Bacigal: May It Please the Court , biography of Judge Robert R. Merhige Jr. (Rowman & Littlefield, 1992), ISBN 0819187577
Web links
- Robert R. Merhige Jr. in the database of Find a Grave (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Merhige, Robert R. Jr. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Robert Reynold Merhige Jr. (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American lawyer and federal judge |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 5, 1919 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 18, 2005 |
| Place of death | Richmond , Virginia |