[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 147 (Tuesday, November 29, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: November 29, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                         JUDGE L. CLIFFORD DAVIS

                                 ______


                           HON. MARTIN FROST

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 29, 1994

  Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, on December 15, 1994, the Tarrant County 
Black Bar Association in Fort Worth, TX, in conjunction with other 
local bar associations, will be honoring Judge L. Clifford Davis for 
his years of service to the community and the judicial system. He will 
be honored with a living color portrait that will be hung in Tarrant 
County Criminal District Court No. 2, where he presided with 
distinction from May 23, 1993 through December 31, 1988.
  Judge Davis received a bachelor of arts degree from Philandersmith 
College in Little Rock, AR in 1945. He completed graduate studies at 
Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA in 1946 and received a law degree from 
Howard University School of Law in 1949.
  In 1949, he started a general practice of law in Arkansas. 
Thereafter, he served in the U.S. military and received an honorable 
discharge. Subsequently, Judge Davis started the first black law 
practice in Tarrant County in 1955. During the 1960's, Judge Davis was 
appointed legal counsel for the NAACP. He is credited with helping 
bring about a peaceful transition to desegregation and integration in 
Fort Worth, Tarrant County, TX. When violence was advocated by many, 
Davis insisted that black people must stay within the realm of the law. 
His last civil rights efforts was a 1983 desegregation agreement which 
resulted in the reduction of court-ordered busing.
  Judge Davis was the first black elected in a contested judicial race 
in Tarrant County in 1983, presiding in the Tarrant County Criminal 
District Court No. 2 from his election through 1988.
  His professional affiliations include the Supreme Court of the United 
States, U.S. court of appeals, life member of the National Bar 
Association, Texas Bar Foundation Fellow, State Bar of Texas, and the 
Tarrant County Black Bar Association. His civic affiliations include 
the Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chambers of Commerce, life member of 
the NAACP, life member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Tarrant County 
Precinct Workers Council, Rotary Club, and St. Andrew United Methodist 
Church.
  He is presently presiding as a visiting judge for Tarrant, Dallas, 
Denton, and Wise Counties. He joined the Fort Worth law firm of 
Johnson, Heiskell, and Vaughn as ``of counsel.'' He is married to Ethel 
R. Davis and they have two daughters.
  I join with the Tarrant County Black Bar Association, his colleagues 
and many friends in honoring Judge Davis for his tireless work and 
contributions to our community.

                          ____________________