[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 51 (Monday, December 21, 1998)]
[Page 2494]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the Death of A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.

December 15, 1998

    Hillary and I were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Judge A. 
Leon Higginbotham, Jr. Throughout his life as a scholar, lawyer, and 
judge, Leon Higginbotham was one of our Nation's most passionate and 
steadfast advocates for civil rights.
    When Leon Higginbotham was named to the Federal bench at the age of 
36 by President Kennedy, he was the youngest Federal judge to be 
appointed in three decades. He served with distinction and eventually 
became judge of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. He also found the 
time to write and speak with idealism and rigor on the great dilemmas of 
race and justice. And because of this remarkable service and his 
indelible spirit, I had the honor in 1995 to award Judge Higginbotham 
the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given to citizens 
in the United States.
    His retirement was spent remarkably--helping to draft the 
Constitution for a democratic South Africa and teaching a fresh 
generation of students at Harvard. Judge Higginbotham's life, as much as 
his scholarship, set an example of commitment, enlargement, and service 
to young minds at home and abroad.
    Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Evelyn Brooks 
Higginbotham, and their four children.