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1999 SESSION

996016129
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 771
Offered January 21, 1999
On the death of Spottswood W. Robinson III.
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Patrons-- Baskerville, Abbitt, Almand, Armstrong, Barlow, Behm, Bennett, Black, Brink, Cantor, Christian, Clement, Councill, Crittenden, Croshaw, Davies, Deeds, Diamonstein, Grayson, Hall, Harris, Ingram, Jackson, Johnson, Jones, D.C., Jones, J.C., Katzen, McDonnell, McEachin, Melvin, Moran, Plum, Puller, Purkey, Rhodes, Robinson, Scott, Shuler, Spruill, Stump, Thomas, Van Landingham, Van Yahres, Watts and Woodrum; Senators: Bolling, Lambert, Marsh, Maxwell, Miller, Y.B. and Watkins
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WHEREAS, Spottswood W. Robinson III of Richmond, an influential civil rights lawyer, former dean of the Howard University Law School, and the first African-American to serve as chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, died on October 11, 1998; and

WHEREAS, a native of Richmond, Spottswood Robinson graduated from Virginia Union University in three years and, at age 20, entered Howard University’s Law School at the right time to fall under the influence of Charles Hamilton Houston, who was in the process of creating a body of civil rights law that would later bring about great change; and

WHEREAS, after graduating from Howard, and leaving an academic record that remains unmatched 60 years later, Spottswood Robinson established, with Oliver Hill and the late Martin A. Martin, a Richmond aw firm that became, and still is, one of the most influential in the city; and

WHEREAS, with Oliver Hill and the late Thurgood Marshall, Spottswood Robinson argued civil rights cases throughout Virginia and the south, ultimately arguing and winning the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education case that outlawed enforced racial segregation in public schools; and

WHEREAS, Spottswood Robinson also participated in important civil rights cases that outlawed segregated seating on interstate buses, opened Virginia state parks to African-American residents, and abolished real estate covenants that barred house sales to African-Americans; and

WHEREAS, in 1960, Spottswood Robinson was named dean of the Howard University Law School and also served on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission until he was nominated, by President Kennedy, for the federal bench; and

WHEREAS, in 1964, Judge Robinson was sworn in as only the third African-American federal district judge in American history, and three years later, he became the first African-American U.S. Court of Appeals judge when President Johnson nominated him for that position; and

WHEREAS, Judge Robinson served as chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia from 1981 until 1986 and continued to serve as senior judge until his retirement in 1992; and

WHEREAS, during his long and extraordinarily productive career, Judge Spottswood Robinson went from brilliant law student to history-making lawyer to distinguished federal judge, all the while retaining his meticulous, scholarly approach to the law, his unquestioned courage in defending it, and his warm and modest demeanor; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly hereby note with great sadness the passing of one of the few remaining civil rights giants, Spottswood W. Robinson III; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Spottswood W. Robinson III as an expression of the deep and abiding respect in which his memory is held by the members of the General Assembly and the people of Virginia.