The "Fifth Circuit Four" (or simply "The Four") were four judges of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit who, during the late 1950s, became known for a series of decisions (which continued into the late 1960s) crucial in advancing thecivil and political rights ofAfrican Americans. At that time, the Fifth Circuit included not onlyLouisiana,Mississippi, andTexas (the limits of its jurisdiction since October 1, 1981), but alsoAlabama,Georgia,Florida, and thePanama Canal Zone.[1]
"The Four" comprisedRichard T. Rives,Elbert Parr Tuttle (who served as Chief Judge from 1960 to 1967),John R. Brown (who succeeded Tuttle as Chief Judge), andJohn Minor Wisdom. All but Rives wereliberalRepublicans; Rives was aDemocrat and friend ofSupreme Court justiceHugo Black.[1] In their most famous cases, they were opposed by fellow Fifth Circuit judgeBenjamin Franklin Cameron, an avowedstates righter and former "Hoovercrat"[2] who had been considered for a federal judgeship as early as 1930.
During the first half of the twentieth century, appointments to lower federal courts were frequently dominated by local congressmen, especially senators.[3] This meant that most members of the Southern bench were segregationists, and despiteHoover making two appointments to the court, all members as of 1943 were Democrats,[4] with some likeRobert Lee Russell being very close relatives of prominent opponents of civil rights. Althoughthe Fourth Circuit had already ruled against Virginia'swhite primary in 1930,[5] the Fifth in 1932 would uphold Texas' in a predecessor case toNixon v. Condon,[6] while in 1933 it upheld Louisiana's literacy test inTrudeau v. Barnes.[7] Nevertheless, by 1946 JudgeSamuel Hale Sibley was striking down that same white primary in Georgia.[4]
Over the following decade the Fifth Circuit would be dominated by long-serving JudgeJoseph Chappell Hutcheson Jr.,[8] a dyed-in-the-wool Texas Democrat originally appointed to the benchby Woodrow Wilson.[9] Hutcheson was autocratic in style,[8] fundamentally conservative and valued predictability, but not inherently opposed to civil rights for African Americans. Deaths and assumptions ofsenior status nonetheless meant the court underwent a continued transformation in the years surroundingBrown v. Board of Education. So early as 1951 only Hutcheson andEdwin R. Holmes remained on the Court from the Franklin Roosevelt administration,[10] and four more judges would depart before the end of 1956.
Alienation fromHarry S. Truman's civil rights program caused manyBlack BeltDixiecrats, notably anti-LongLouisiana GovernorRobert F. Kennon[11] to subsequently endorse the Republican Party nationally. The GOP's presidential quest became aided by reform of the moribund Republican parties in the area covered by the Fifth Circuit:[12] a new generation of lawyers, many from theNorth orWest, would redirect Louisiana and Georgia delegations fromRobert Taft to Dwight D. Eisenhower atthe 1952 GOP convention. Eisenhower was elected and the rapid postwar turnover created a major opportunity to rebuild the circuit. Unlike Democratic presidents, Eisenhower would make his appointments without influence from local senators,[13] although Attorneys-GeneralHerbert Brownell Jr. andWilliam P. Rogers both were concerned at the liberalism of many Truman appointees to the bench.[14]
When a new seat was created to cope with a burgeoning docket,[15] Eisenhower rewarded Tuttle, then general counsel to the treasury, for his service in the 1952 election.[16] Three seats became open in 1955: Eisenhower filled them with Cameron of Mississippi via the recommendation ofSenator Eastland,[2]Warren Leroy Jones of Florida and, after two years vacant, a recommendation from Cameron and much quarrelling with Eastland, Wisdom of Louisiana.[17]
The jurisprudence of the group led to expansion of the rights granted inBrown v. Board of Education to other areas of society, such as employment, integration, and voting rights.[1] SinceBrown did not specify the mechanisms for desegregation, it was crucial that lower federal courts such as the Fifth Circuit expanded civil rights law. In several cases, such asLouisiana v. United States, the court struck down "race neutral" laws that functionally denied African Americans their rights due to unequal application. In response, the judges faced major backlash from their communities, who were largely against integration and civil rights for African Americans. The judges received many phone threats and had their personal property destroyed or vandalized.[18]
"TheConstitution is both color blind and color conscious. To avoid conflict with theequal protection clause, a classification that denies a benefit, causes harm, or imposes a burden must not be based onrace. In that sense the Constitution is color blind. But the Constitution is color conscious to preventdiscrimination being perpetuated and to undo the effects of past discrimination. The criterion is the relevancy of color to a legitimate government purpose."—Judge John Minor Wisdom, writing for the majority inUnited States v. Jefferson County Board of Education, 1966.[19]
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