[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 30 (Tuesday, February 25, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H1278]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 HONORING JUSTICE ERNEST A. FINNEY, JR.

  (Mr. WILSON of South Carolina asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, I rise today to 
celebrate the extraordinary achievements of Earnest A. Finney, Jr.
  Raised by his father after his mother died following his birth, 
Earnest Finney went on to graduate from Claflin College and from South 
Carolina State University School of Law. Finding it difficult to earn a 
living as an attorney, Finney became a teacher and waited tables to 
make ends meet.
  Finney then settled in Sumter, South Carolina, with his family and 
became South Carolina's leading defender of civil rights, representing 
more than 6,000 clients. In 1963 Finney served as chairman of the South 
Carolina Commission on Civil Rights and in 1972 was elected to the 
South Carolina House of Representatives. He was then elected as judge 
of the Third Judicial Circuit in 1976.
  Later, in 1994, Ernest Finney, who was once denied membership in 
South Carolina's lawyers association because of his race, became the 
first African American chief justice of South Carolina's Supreme Court 
since Reconstruction. I am extremely honored to have been Justice 
Finney's first Republican supporter in the State Senate. Since then, 
Justice Finney has retired and was named interim president of South 
Carolina State University in 2002.
  Justice Finney remains a bright and shining star; and I thank him for 
his service, integrity, and commitment to making South Carolina and 
America a better place.

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