In 1969, Arnow ordered the Escambia County School District desegregated. In 1972 he presided over the trial of the Gainesville Eight anti-Vietnam War activists who were indicted on charges of conspiracy to disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida. All eight were acquitted. In 1978 he drew up a special district to assure that the county commission would have at least one black member. In 1981 he sealed a settlement in a discrimination case, requiring the United States Air Force to establish a $2 million fund and Eglin Air Force Base to hire 100 black workers for its civilian labor force and promote others already on the payroll.