Chuck Williams: Federal Judge Clay Land gives civil rights speech to local bar association

When a federal judge opens a speech to a local bar association like this, it gets your attention.

" Don't slip out early. If you've got a court appearance in state court, I have the power to get you out of their jail; they don't have the power to get you out of mine."

U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land had my attention, and I wasn't even at the speech in front of the Columbus Bar Association last Thursday. I just read a transcript of it.

But I wanted to know what he was thinking. And, he was thinking history -- civil rights history.

"With the release of the movie 'Selma' and this year's 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, I thought the topic was timely," Land said. "By connecting the talk to the Middle District of Georgia and to the role that lawyers and judges played, I thought I could provide a unique perspective that would be particularly interesting to local lawyers."

And he did.

Land, 54, was a toddler when the marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge. But that kid has spent 13 years on the federal bench. He used his vantage point to turn history professor on Thursday as he outlined the roles federal judges and attorneys played in the civil rights movement.

It may have been Black History Month, but Land was teaching American history.

"I want to talk about the character in the movie played by veteran actor Martin Sheen," Land said to the attorneys. "Based on my recollection, Sheen only appeared in two scenes in the movie and probably uttered fewer than 10 lines. But without his character, the march from Selma to Montgomery would not have happened."

Land was talking about U.S. District Court Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr. Gov. George Wallace may have run the state of Alabama in the civil rights era, but Judge Johnson called the shots in landmark ruling after ruling.

Land pointed to Johnson's role in a federal court ruling that struck down Montgomery's segregated bus seating in the wake of the Rosa Parks-inspired boycott, but Land also connected Columbus' often overlooked role in the movement. When Land makes a case, it is well thought out and convincing.

Land connected the dots between the Primus E. King challenge to 1944 voter's rights challenge.

"In 1944, civil rights activists in Columbus, led by local physician Thomas Brewer, decided to recruit a brave black barber, Primus E. King," Land said. "Keep in mind that this was almost a decade before the Supreme Court decided Brown v. Board of Education and the Montgomery bus boycotts; almost 15 years before the lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina, and the 'Freedom Rides' to the South; and almost 20 years before the 'March on Washington' and the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964."

Federal Judge T. Hoyt Davis sided with King, citing a similar Texas decision.

Land was quick to point out that King was represented by Oscar D. Smith Sr., a white Columbus attorney.

Land, never one to miss a detail, pointed out a rare fact in appeal of the case.

"Incidentally, a young 37-year-old attorney from New York City filed an amicus brief in support of King in the Fifth Circuit," Land said. "That attorney, Thurgood Marshall, would go on to serve on the United States Supreme Court."

Land spun his lesson back to Judge Johnson and his landmark decision in Alabama that paved the way for the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King to be successful.

"Judge Johnson, whom Dr. King lauded as a judge who had given 'true meaning to the word justice,' received many death threats during his career," Land said. " Years after his historic rulings, Judge Johnson was asked whether he considered himself to be an agent for social change and justice. He replied, like the Judge he was: 'My only goal was to enforce the Constitution. The actions of the judges sitting on the federal bench, hasn't been for the purpose of effecting social change. I approached it strictly from a legal standpoint. I have no interest in social change, as a judge.'"

Land said he suspects "Judge Davis felt the same way when he courageously declared the All White Democratic Primary unconstitutional in 1945. He may have sympathized with Primus King. But that is not why he did what he did. These judges did what they did because it was their duty to follow the law. And they did not shirk from that duty, even though their rulings would threaten their personal safety and cause them to be socially ostracized. Their courageous devotion to duty helped change America."

Land could have rested his case right there. No one would -- or could -- have argued against him.

Land issued a professional challenge to the local lawyers -- the reason he jokingly talked about the difference between local jails and federal prisons.

"The next time you hear someone tell a joke about lawyers or judges, putting down our profession, don't chuckle defensively," Land said. "Tell them you'd like to buy them a cup of coffee and then tell them about a barber and a bridge, places like Columbus and Selma, judges like Davis and Johnson, and yes lawyers."

Voting Rights--From a Barber to a Bridge

This story was originally published February 23, 2015 at 10:27 AM with the headline "Chuck Williams: Federal Judge Clay Land gives civil rights speech to local bar association."