Lessons from the master: the legacy of Judge John R. Brown.

• Author: Peddie, Collyn A.
• Position: Testimonial

On my desk at home, I keep a copy of Judge John R. Brown's portrait, along with framed snapshots of Ann Richards, Geraldine Ferraro, and my law school friend, the late Mike Morisi. Although I am not sure the Judge, a lifelong Republican, would appreciate the company of such stalwart Democrats, he will just have to forgive me. He, like all of them, is a continuing source of inspiration for me. Besides, I like to think that, once in heaven, the Judge switched parties.

That belief is only partially the result of wishful thinking. Of all the things the Judge said, the one statement I remember most was his repeated insistence that we are our brothers' keepers, a stereotypically Democratic notion. The Judge, however, would always add that our brothers and sisters had no right to demand to be kept. Instead, he believed that each of us has a moral obligation to others that is as absolute and binding as any actionable contract.

As a judge, John Brown practiced this credo. Not surprisingly, he was often accused of judicial activism, the unpardonable sin of judges who vote against you. He never saw himself that way. Instead, he understood what it meant to be a judge and simply refused to embrace the myth of judicial "strict constructionism" to justify inaction in the face of real injustice. He knew that, particularly in the Fifties and Sixties, the federal courts, and the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in particular, were truly the courts of last resort--the only place where his disadvantaged or dispossessed brethren could seek redress of legitimate grievances and have any hope of obtaining it.

He once told me of a voting rights case on which he sat during the Civil Rights era. The court had before it a Southern county with almost 20,000 eligible voters in it, most of whom were African-American, but only four of whom were registered to vote. Whether you were a Republican, Democrat, or even a "none of the above," the Judge said, you knew something was wrong. Under these circumstances, inaction was an unaffordable luxury and would have required aggressive ignorance of the facts before the court. It is hard to imagine how respect for the courts and for the rule of law in this country would have suffered or what the South would be like today if Judge Brown or his fellow Fifth Circuit Judges Tuttle, Wisdom and Rives had simply demurred under such circumstances.

The Judge's philosophy also applied to his law clerks. A surprising number later became...