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History-making federal judge dies at 82

By Rick Joslin/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Saturday, April 21, 2007 11:36 PM CDT

U.S. District Court Judge George Howard Jr. of Pine Bluff, whose tenacity against racial injustice played a major role in prompting and defining his history-making legal career, died early Saturday at Jefferson Regional Medical Center.

Howard, 82, Arkansas’ first black federal judge, had been battling failing health for some time.

“Judge Howard was a lawyer’s lawyer and a truly outstanding judge,” said Pine Bluff attorney Robert Morehead, who began practicing law in 1970.

“He helped so many people both in his work with the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and as an attorney. He gave legal counsel to many who couldn’t afford representation.

“Oh, my Lord. He’s going to be missed.”

Pine Bluff attorney Othello Cross, in practice since 1979, said Howard “demanded respect by always respecting others.”

Cross said Howard’s courtroom demeanor “was one of always being prepared” and that Howard had little patience for “any lack of preparation by lawyers practicing before him.”

“When I think of him now, I’ll think of a man always ready to proceed,” added Cross.

“He was an imposing figure as a judge. It might seem odd, but I had no fear of him. But I had plenty of respect for him as a judge and an individual.”

Howard had a major judicial role in the Whitewater proceedings that culminated with President Bill Clinton’s 1998 impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Howard was appointed a U.S. District Court judge for the Eastern and Western districts of Arkansas in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter.

Born here May 13, 1924, Howard dropped out of high school to participate in a government program training teenagers for work at defense plants. In 1942, at the age of 18, Howard joined the Navy and served during World War II.

His experiencing and witnessing of racial discrimination during the war moved him toward becoming an attorney. The Navy was racially segregated at that time.

Following the war, Howard returned to Pine Bluff and completed his high school education. In 1950, he graduated with honors from the pre-law program at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo.

He then entered the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, becoming the first black student to reside in campus housing there. He earned a bachelor of science degree and a doctor of jurisprudence law degree in 1954.

He was not the first black graduate of the law school, but he was one of the earliest.

He returned to Pine Bluff, where he and his wife, Vivian, would eventually parent three daughters and a son. Howard established a private legal practice here with a single goal.

“I wanted to see that justice is carried out for all,” he said in a 1995 Commercial interview.

In 1967, he was appointed by then Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller to the state Claims Commission and served with the panel until 1977, when then Gov. David Pryor appointed him as a state Supreme Court justice.

In 1979, then Gov. Clinton named Howard as a state Court of Appeals judge. Howard remained in that post until he was awarded a lifetime appointment by Carter.

All three judicial appointments were the frst for a black in Arkansas. While noted by some for his firmness as a judge in the courtroom, Howard was warmly admired for his generosity and helpfulness toward attorneys. He also had a sense of humor that was frequently demonstrated.

“I knew him almost 50 years, since long before I became a lawyer, and I always looked up to him, “ Cross said.

“I always will.”

Howard made an unsuccessful bid for the Pine Bluff City Council in his only political race, and was a leader with the NAACP, serving as president of the State Conference of Branches.

“When I came on board (as a federal judge), I made it crystal clear that I was a judge for the people — not the black people or red people or yellow people, but all the people. I am colorblind.

“There were those who felt that a black man could not handle this type of power, that the time was not right,” he said. “In some people’s eyes, the time is never right for minorities ... so when is the time right?”

Being black gave him some insight into the importance of the U.S. Constitution that other judges didn’t have, Howard felt. “I sincerely believe that I am in a position to appreciate the value of the federal Constitution,” he said.

“I’m in a better position to appreciate a litigant’s system. A man who espoused causes that related to individuals who were not identified with those who are more powerful in our society — it gave many people a ray of hope that many have always told us was there.”

Funeral arrangements will be announced by P.K. Miller Mortuary.

Larry Fugate and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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