[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 29, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E40]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    ONE MAN STOOD ALONE AGAINST HATE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. EARL F. HILLIARD

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 29, 2002

  Mr. HILLIARD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the Honorable Judge 
and State Representative Charles Nice, Jr.
  In the hate-filled atmosphere in the all-white Alabama State 
legislature after the decision in 1954 known as Brown vs. the Board of 
Education of Toledo, Kansas, which ruled illegal the segregated school 
systems of America, Charles Nice was a Democratic freshman 
Representative from Birmingham. A resolution was introduced which 
condemned the Supreme Court for the decision, and an amendment to the 
Alabama constitution was introduced to which would abolish the public 
school system in any county which was ``threatened'' with integration.
  Charles Nice was the only member of the legislature to have the moral 
courage to vote against the resolution and the amendment. Had John 
Kennedy written a book about state government as he did about federal, 
he would have included Charles Nice in that ``Profiles of Courage.''
  He was not reelected, of course. But he did not quit or ameliorate 
his morality. Unbending before the gales of hate, he continued his 
commitment to public service by accepting appointment to the Circuit 
Court in 1974.
  Soon, Alabama reinstituted the death penalty, and Judge Nice presided 
over four capital cases in which the jury prescribed the death penalty. 
Again, Charles Nice withstood the storms of hate and vengeance and 
commuted the sentences to ``life in prison without parole.''
  In a state in which it is common for a judge to give the death 
penalty to a convicted person whom the jury has recommended for life in 
prison, he was condemned and transferred to the Family Court of 
Alabama, where he could hear no capital cases. ``At last,'' the system 
thought, ``Charles Nice could do no good.''
  However, in this court any juvenile 15 years or older charged with a 
serious crime could be transferred to adult court for trial as an adult 
and given the death penalty. Standing firmly on higher ground, Judge 
Nice refused to transfer juveniles to adult court. ``No youth,'' he 
said, ``should be given the death penalty.''
  Smeared in the media, he was defeated for reelection in 1998, but 
remained victorious in principle. This good man continued to be active 
in the Alabama Democratic Party until his death at 82 on December 5, 
2001.
  Standing against hate, he planted his feet firmly on higher ground. 
Now he is pressing on the upward way, going to even higher ground. He 
will be missed, but never forgotten. His service is printed upon the 
social system of Alabama. We are not as good as he would have us be, 
but we are better for his having been by here.
  May he be ever honored by those who serve this nation and its highest 
principles.

                          ____________________