Senior U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice died today at the age of 89. Appointed to the federal bench in 1968 by Lyndon B. Johnson, William Wayne Justice was at the forefront of many civil rights decisions in Texas. In the 1970s desegregation case, he ordered Texas to desegregate the state's public schools. In 1980, he ordered sweeping changes to the state's prison system. His official biographer, Frank Kemerer, said he was "perhaps the single most influential agent for change in the 20th-century Texas history." An article in the Austin Statesman gives a good summary of Judge Justice's career.
I had the distinct privilege of trying a sexual discrimination case in his court in 1997. He took senior status soon thereafter and moved to Austin to be closer to family. He will be missed by many. I think the quote from the Austin Statesman summed it up best when they said:
Now, Justice's historic gavel has been silenced. But its mighty sound will reverberate through Texas forever.
