Soul of the Court
eBook - ePub

Soul of the Court

The Trailblazing Life of Judge William Benson Bryant Sr.

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Soul of the Court

The Trailblazing Life of Judge William Benson Bryant Sr.

About this book

Legal legend Judge Louis F. Oberdorfer once stated that there were "only two people in the world who really understood the Constitution" and its impact on American lives. One was Hugo Black, deceased Supreme Court justice. The other was William Benson Bryant Sr. (1911–2005), who in the early 1950s became the first Black assistant US attorney to try cases in Washington, DC's federal court, and became that same court's first Black chief judge in 1977. Written by award-winning author Tonya Bolden, Soul of the Court: The Trailblazing Life of Judge William Benson Bryant Sr. presents the story of Bryant's remarkable, pioneering life in the law—one that began in a segregated DC and included many years as an extraordinary criminal defense attorney, most notably as the dogged defender of Andrew Mallory, a young poor Black man sentenced to the electric chair for the 1954 rape of a white woman. Bryant fought for Mallory's life all the way to the US Supreme Court, chiefly on the grounds that Mallory's confession—the most damning evidence against him—was the fruit of an illegal detention. The High Court overturned Mallory's conviction. Mallory v. United States was among the cases that culminated in the landmark 1966 Miranda rule.

Appointed to federal judicial service by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, Bryant's forty-year tenure included cases ranging from overturning a corrupted election of the United Mine Workers and unconstitutional conditions at the DC jail. The biography draws upon an array of documents, newspaper articles, and interviews with the judge's friends, colleagues, and family members, as well as oral histories, including Judge Bryant's. Bolden beautifully narrates the story of a life of compassion, unparalleled integrity, and unwavering belief in the dignity of every human being.

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Yes, you can access Soul of the Court by Tonya Bolden in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Law & Law Biographies. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. Acknowledgments
  7. Prologue
  8. Chapter 1—Wide Spot in the Road
  9. Chapter 2—Feel Yourself Grow
  10. Chapter 3—Schoolboy
  11. Chapter 4—If I Can Cut the Mustard
  12. Chapter 5—Representing the Government, Your Honor
  13. Chapter 6—Raw Justice
  14. Chapter 7—No Cooperation
  15. Chapter 8—Never Been in This Position
  16. Chapter 9—Heart Was Just Pounding
  17. Chapter 10—Delay Was Chosen
  18. Chapter 11—A Moral Issue
  19. Chapter 12—Best Effort
  20. Chapter 13—Day after Day, Trying Cases
  21. Chapter 14—Is It Right? Is It Right?
  22. Chapter 15—A Very Distinctive Dignity
  23. Chapter 16—Feel Themselves Grow
  24. Chapter 17—I’ll Be There
  25. Chapter 18—Not to Be Tolerated in a Civilized Society
  26. Chapter 19—A Good Fight
  27. Epilogue
  28. Source Notes
  29. Index
  30. About the Author