[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 107 (Tuesday, July 27, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9370-S9371]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      JUDGE FRANK M. JOHNSON, JR.

  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I would like to make a few comments at 
this time upon the death of Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., a native 
Alabamian born in Haleyville, AL, who was appointed to the Federal 
bench in 1953 by President Eisenhower and who was buried today in his 
native Winston County, aged 80.
  That Frank M. Johnson, Jr., was a great judge, there can be no doubt. 
It is appropriate and fitting that this body, which reviews and 
confirms all members of the judiciary, pause and consider his 
outstanding life. His death has attracted national attention. While I 
knew him and considered him a friend, I am certainly unable to 
effectively articulate in any adequate way what his long tenure has 
meant to America and to Alabama, but the impact of his life on law in 
America is so important, I am compelled to try. I just hope I shall be 
forgiven for my inadequacies.
  Many will say that his greatness was to be found in his commitment to 
civil rights and his profound belief in the ideal of American freedom, 
which was deep and abiding. These were, indeed, powerful strengths. 
Others will say that his greatness is the result of his wise handling 
of a series of pivotal cases that changed the very nature of everyday 
life throughout America, cases which were at the forefront of the legal 
system's action to eliminate inequality before the law. Indeed, it is 
stunning to recall just how many important cases Judge Johnson was 
called upon to decide and how many of these are widely recognized today 
as pivotal cases in the history of American law.
  How did it happen? How did so much of importance fall to him, and how 
did he, in such a crucial time, handle them with such firm confidence?
  I tend to believe those cases and his achievements at the root arose 
out of his extraordinary commitment to law, to the sanctity of the 
courtroom, and to his passionate, ferocious commitment to truth. That 
was the key to his greatness. Judge Johnson always sought the truth. He 
demanded it even if it were not popular. He wanted it unvarnished.
  Once the true facts in a case were ascertained, he applied those 
facts to the law. That was his definition of justice. Make no mistake, 
he was very hard working; very demanding of his outstanding clerks; 
and, very smart. He finished first in his class at the University of 
Alabama Law School in 1943. This combination of idealism, courage, 
industry, and intelligence when applied to his search for truth along 
with his brilliant legal mind was the source, I think, of his 
greatness. This explains how when he found himself in the middle of a 
revolution, he was ready, capable and possessed of the gifts and grades 
necessary for the challenge.
  The historic cases he handled are almost too numerous to mention. 
There was the bus boycott case in which Rosa Parks, the mother of the 
civil rights movement, was arrested for failing to move to the back of 
the bus. There, he struck down Alabama's segregation law on public 
transportation. That was the beginning. Later, there was his order in 
allowing the Selma to Montgomery march in 1964, the order to integrate 
his alma mater, the University of Alabama, despite the famous and 
intense opposition by Governor George C. Wallace, the desegregation of 
the Alabama State Troopers, historic prison litigation cases and his 
mental health rulings which were quoted and followed throughout the 
nation. Each of these and many other cases were truly historic in 
effect and very significant legally. Did he go too far on occasion? Was 
he too much of an activist? On a few occasions, perhaps. Some would 
say, on occasion, the remedies that he imposed maybe went further than 
they should have, even though most have agreed that his findings of 
constitutional violations were sound. But, most of the time and in most 
of the cases he simply followed the law as we had always known it to 
be, but unfortunately, not as it was being applied.

  When the State tried to stop the Selma to Montgomery march, Judge 
Johnson concluded, in words quoted, in a fine obituary by J. Y. Smith 
in the Washington Post Sunday, that the events at the Pettus Bridge in 
Selma.

       Involved nothing more than a peaceful effort on the part of 
     Negro citizens to exercise Constitutional right: that is, the 
     right to assemble peaceably and to petition one's government 
     for the redress of grievances * * *
       It seems basic to our Constitutional principles that the 
     extent of the right to assemble, demonstrate, and march 
     peaceably along the highways and streets in an orderly manner 
     should be commensurate with the enormity of the wrongs that 
     are being protested and petitioned against. In this case, the 
     wrongs are enormous. The extent of the right to demonstrate 
     against these wrongs should be determined accordingly.

  These simple, direct and powerful words are typical of the man and 
his way of thinking. The years in which he presided were tumultuous, 
the times very tense. I remember the times. Few who were alive in those 
days do not. Rosa Parks and Frank Johnson-were there. They were present 
and participating in the commencement of a revolution and the creation 
of a new social order in America--a better society in which we 
undertook as a nation to extend equality to all people. True equality 
has not been fully achieved, but is indisputable that when the hammer 
of Rosa Parks hit the anvil of Frank Johnson, the sound of freedom rang 
out loud and clear and to this day that sound has not been silenced. 
His actions, the cases he decided have caused the anvil of freedom to 
ring again and again, and that sound changed, not just the South and 
America but the entire world.

  Though I never tried a jury case before Judge Johnson, I did have 
appellate cases before him when he was a member of the U.S. Court of 
Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, to which he was appointed by 
President Carter in the late 1970's. I was honored to meet him 
occasionally when I was a United States Attorney and when I was a 
private attorney. I considered him a friend. He had himself been a 
United States Attorney and he had great respect for the office. In 
several ways, and at various times he made comments that affirmed me 
and my service. It made me feel good. Of this I am certain. If the law, 
in a case before Judge Johnson, and facts were on my client's side my 
client would win, if not, my client would lose. This was his reputation 
throughout the Bar and it was one of his highest accomplishments. He 
was respected by all members of the bar.
  The stories told by lawyers practicing before Judge Johnson were many 
and some are now legendary. None were better told than those by the 
long time federal prosecutor, Broward Segrest, who practiced in Judge 
Johnson's Courtroom throughout his career. No one knew more of the 
courtroom events and could tell them better than Broward.
  There were almost as many Frank Johnson stories as Bear Bryant 
stories. The point is this: yes, he was famous. Yes, he played an 
historic role in making this land of equality. And, yes, he was 
brilliant and fearless. He stood for what he believed in no matter what 
the consequences at risk to his life. But, it was not just in these 
great trials that one could divine the nature of his greatness. It was 
also in the lesser cases that he demonstrated his fierce determination 
to make justice come alive in his court, for every party in every case.
  Lawyers who failed to follow the rules of court or to do an effective 
job

[[Page S9371]]

for their clients were in big trouble. Because they knew what he 
expected, what he demanded, they came to his court prepared and ready 
to do justice.
  There is so much more than can be said. He once called himself a 
``conservative hillbilly'' and that statement could be defended. To 
Judge Johnson, no one was above the law or above any person who 
appeared in his court. All were equal. Though a Republican, he was the 
perfect democrat--with a small ``d''. Neither power, nor wealth, nor 
status, nor skilled lawyering counted a whit in his court and everyone 
knew it. He loved democracy, fairness and justice. Judge Johnson was 
vigorously indignant at crime and corruption. He fully understood that 
those who stole or cheated were predators and were acting in violation 
of morality and law. This he would never tolerate. While he was always 
committed to providing a fair trial, he was known as a prosecutor's 
judge. He would not tolerate criminality.
  Judge Johnson loved democracy and fairness and justice. He sought to 
make that real in his courtroom by finding the truth and skillfully, 
with intellectual honesty, applying the truth, the facts, to the law. 
As God gives us the ability to understand it, that is justice, and a 
judge who does not consistently, in great cases and small, at risk of 
his life, with skill and determination, and with courage and vision, 
over a long lifetime is worthy to be called great. Frank M. Johnson, 
Jr. is worthy.

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