Legendary Liberal U.S. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black was from Alabama
The most enduring legacy a president will have is an appointment to the United States Supreme Court. A lifetime appointment to the high tribunal is the ultimate power. The nine Justices of the Supreme Court have omnipotent, everlasting power over most major decisions affecting issues and public policy in our nation. President Trump has had two SCOTUS appointments and confirmations. This is monumental. These appointments may be his legacy.
The only Alabamian to ever serve on the U.S. Supreme Court was Hugo Black. It may come as a surprise to you, since Alabama is today considered one of the most conservative places in America, but Hugo Black was arguably one of the most liberal Supreme Court justices in history. He was also one of the longest-serving justices.
Black was the fifth longest-serving Supreme Court Justice. He sat on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1937 until his death in 1971. Nearly 35 of his 85 years on Earth were spent on the Supreme Court.
Hugo Black, like most folks of that era in Alabama history, was born on a farm. Black was from rural Clay County. He was the youngest child of a large family. He worked his way through the University of Alabama Law School under the tutelage of President George Denny. He shoveled coal to stoke the furnaces at the university. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa.
Black began practicing law in Birmingham at 22 years old. He became a Jefferson County Prosecutor and then World War I broke out. He served in the war and rose to the rank of captain.
In 1926, at age 40, Black was elected to the U.S. Senate. Prior to that he had been a practicing Labor lawyer and won his seat with the help of organized Labor, especially in Birmingham. He arrived in the Senate at the beginning of the Great Depression. During his entire tenure in the Senate, America was in the throes of the Depression. Folks who endured this era were marked by it. It made all southern politicians progressives and new dealers.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt came to the White House in 1932. His New Deal was the most legendary political accomplishment in American history. Black became one of FDR’s staunchest allies. He voted for 24 out of 24 of Roosevelt’s New Deal programs.
Alabama benefitted mightily from FDR’s New Deal, especially rural Alabama and the Tennessee Valley. Roosevelt rewarded Alabama’s junior senator with a coveted seat on the Supreme Court. He was one of nine justices appointed by President Roosevelt during his 13 years as president.
It is hard today to imagine that Alabama could produce such a liberal judge. However, during this era of American history, Alabama’s congressional delegation was one of the most liberal in the nation, as evidenced by the fact that they embraced FDR and his New Deal.
Black was a liberal New Dealer in the Senate and liberals were pleased by the Justice from Alabama’s tenure over the next 35 years. Liberals regard Black as one of the most influential Supreme Court Justices of the 20th Century.
Black was a part of the court decision that declared school racial segregation illegal in the famous Brown v. Board of Education decision. He was the author of numerous opinions upholding Civil Rights. Black was known for his liberal policies. It was interesting and probably unbelievable to most Americans that Alabama’s only contribution to the Supreme Court was one of the most liberal Justices.
In many ways, our current Democratic U.S. Senator, Doug Jones, is very similar to the late Justice Hugo Black. If truth were known, my guess is that one of Jones’s idols is Hugo Black.
Jones is a Birmingham, pro-labor, pro-civil-rights, criminal defense lawyer with a background as a prosecutor. He was appointed a U.S. Attorney by a Democrat president. Jones has, throughout his legal career, been a national Democrat.
With Jones’s 2017 election to the U.S. Senate, he became and is still a darling superstar among the national Democratic elitists. He is the only Democratic Senator from the Deep South. The liberal Democrats in California and New York adore and admire him. Indeed, the vast majority of his campaign money derives from California and New York zip codes. His defeat of the ultra-conservative, anti-gay-marriage judge, Roy Moore, has made him a national Democratic rock star.
It is very likely that Democrat Joe Biden will win the White House. If that occurs, look for Jones as a potential cabinet member. Even though, at age 64, Jones is not the ideal choice for a Supreme Court appointment, it is not out of the realm of possibility.
See you next week.
Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in more than 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve can be reached at www.steveflowers.us.
