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A Case Study Of The Federal Judiciary's Role In Court-Ordered Busing: The Professional And Personal Experiences Of U.S. District Judge Robert R. Merhige, Jr., Ronald J. Bacigal, Margaret I. Bacigal
A Case Study Of The Federal Judiciary's Role In Court-Ordered Busing: The Professional And Personal Experiences Of U.S. District Judge Robert R. Merhige, Jr., Ronald J. Bacigal, Margaret I. Bacigal
Law Faculty Publications
Judge Robert R. Merhige, Jr. assumed the office of federal district judge for the Eastern District of Virginia in August of 1967. Upon discovering that federal judges had lifetime tenure, Merhige's father advised: "Take the job. You'll live forever." Neither the elder Merhige nor any observer could have foreseen the turbulence that would engulf Judge Merhige's life on the bench. Two weeks after his appointment, Merhige was faced with government efforts to silence militant black leader H. Rap Brown. Soon thereafter Merhige confronted numerous civil rights and anti-war issues, gaining some immediate notoriety as the first federal judge to declare …