[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 32 (Tuesday, March 2, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S2145]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        RETIREMENT OF SOUTH CAROLINA CHIEF JUSTICE ERNEST FINNEY

 Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, today it is my great privilege 
and honor to salute one of South Carolina's foremost jurists and public 
servants, South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Ernest A. Finney.
  On February 23, Chief Justice Finney announced he would retire from 
the Court after 14 years. This is a bittersweet day for my state. All 
of us who admire Judge Finney and appreciate his legacy are sorry to 
see him leave the bench; but we also are happy for Judge Finney if he 
has decided it is time to take a richly deserved rest from the rigorous 
demands of public service--demands he has shouldered over five decades.
  When Ernest Finney graduated from law school in 1954, blacks were not 
allowed to join the South Carolina bar or serve on juries. Judge Finney 
worked as hard as anyone in the country to change that. One of only a 
handful of black lawyers in South Carolina in the 1950s, he began his 
legal career as an advocate for equal rights and desegregation.
  Ernest Finney and his law partner, Matthew Perry, who went on to 
become the first black federal Judge in South Carolina, tirelessly 
represented over 6,000 defendants arrested during civil rights 
demonstrations in the 1960s. Although they lost all the cases at the 
state level, they won almost all of them on appeal in federal courts.
  After helping lead the fight to desegregate South Carolina, Ernest 
Finney turned his attention to another form of public service. In 1973, 
he became one of the first blacks elected to the South Carolina House 
in this century. He served until 1976, during which time he founded the 
South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus.
  From 1976 to 1985, Judge Finney sat on the South Carolina Circuit 
Court bench. Always the pioneer, he was the first black Circuit Court 
judge in South Carolina.
  In 1985, he became the first black member of the state Supreme Court 
since Reconstruction. He served with great distinction as an Associate 
Justice and earned respect and accolades from his peers and from 
attorneys appearing before the Court.
  In 1994, Judge Finney was elected Chief Justice, the first black 
South Carolinian to attain that position. Without a doubt, he is one of 
the finest jurists in South Carolina history. As senior Associate 
Justice Jean Toal commented on the announcement of Judge Finney's 
retirement: ``He's a giant of the judicial system in South Carolina. 
His tenure will be remembered as one of the outstanding tenures of the 
modern system.''
  Mr. President, today it is my immense pleasure to salute the gigantic 
achievements of Judge Ernest Finney, one of the most estimable public 
servants in recent South Carolina history. I join his friends and 
admirers in wishing him well as he begins his retirement, during which 
I suspect he will continue influencing South Carolina for the 
better.

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