III 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 442 

Commemorating the life of A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 4, 2008 

Mr. CASEY (for himself, Mr. SPECTER, and Mr. LEAHY) submitted the 

following resolution; which was considered and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Commemorating the life of A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. 

Whereas the late A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., dedicated his 

life to eliminating racial barriers in the society of the 

United States; 

Whereas, having grown up during the Great Depression and 

the era of Jim Crow laws, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., 

overcame a childhood marked by economic hardship and 

segregation; 

Whereas, having personally experienced the effects of racism, 

A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., sought an education and career in law during which he fought institutionalized racism in the United States judicial system; 

Whereas A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., began his legal career 

as a law clerk to Justice Curtis Bok of the Superior 

Court of Pennsylvania and soon became the youngest and 


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first African-American Assistant District Attorney in the 

city of Philadelphia; 

Whereas, in 1954, when African Americans were largely excluded from professional opportunities, A. Leon 

Higginbotham, Jr., became a founding member of Norris, 

Schmidt, Green, Harris, & Higginbotham, the first African-American law firm in Philadelphia; 

Whereas, while still in private practice, A. Leon 

Higginbotham, Jr., served as Special Deputy Attorney 

General for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Special 

Hearing Officer in the Department of Justice, President 

of the Philadelphia chapter of the National Association 

for the Advancement of Colored People, a member of the 

Executive Board of the Governor’s Committee of One 

Hundred for Better Education, Commissioner of the 

Pennsylvania Fair Employment Practices Commission, 

Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Human Rights Commission, and a member of the board of directors for various legal, political, and nonprofit organizations within 

Pennsylvania; 

Whereas, having been appointed by President John Fitzgerald Kennedy to the Federal Trade Commission in 

1962, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., became not only the 

first African American to serve on a Federal regulatory 

commission but also the youngest person to be named as 

a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission; 

Whereas, having recognized A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.’s 

gifts as both a lawyer and a public servant, both President Kennedy and President Lyndon Baines Johnson 

nominated A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., as a Federal 

judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania; 


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Whereas, upon confirmation as a Federal judge at the age of 

35, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., became the youngest 

person appointed to the United States District Court for 

the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and one of the 

youngest ever appointed to a Federal bench; 

Whereas, in his role as a Federal judge, A. Leon 

Higginbotham, Jr., served as a mentor to numerous 

young attorneys, affording them the opportunity to gain 

critical exposure to the legal profession; 

Whereas A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., played an extraordinary 

role in the civil rights movement as an advisor to President Johnson after the tragic assassination of Dr. Martin 

Luther King, Jr., and as a member of the National Commission on Causes and Prevention of Violence; 

Whereas, as the first African-American member of the Yale 

University Board of Trustees, A. Leon Higginbotham, 

Jr., successfully fought to allow women to enroll as undergraduates in Yale College; 

Whereas, in 1977, President Jimmy Carter acknowledged A. 

Leon Higginbotham Jr.’s work as both a judge and a 

scholar and appointed him to the United States Court of 

Appeals for the Third Circuit; 

Whereas A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr,. sat on the Court of Appeals for 16 years and served as Chief Judge from 1989 

until 1991 and as Senior Judge through the completion 

of his public career in 1993; 

Whereas, through his rulings and subsequent writing, A. 

Leon Higginbotham, Jr., vigorously fought racial bias 

and prejudice; 

Whereas, upon retirement from the bench, A. Leon 

Higginbotham, Jr., became the Public Service JurispruVerDate Aug 31 2005 01:14 Feb 05, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR442.ATS SR442

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dence Professor at Harvard University, dedicating the remainder of his life to educating and empowering future 

generations to continue the pursuit of equal justice under 

the law; 

Whereas, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., served as the chairman 

of an American Bar Association panel that in 1993 

issued the landmark report ‘‘America’s Children at Risk: 

A National Agenda for Legal Action’’, studying the status of children in the society and legal system of the 

United States; 

Whereas, in 1993, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., served as 

counsel to the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, 

& Garrison, where he litigated a host of pro bono matters, including voting rights in Louisiana, and advocated 

free elections in South Africa; 

Whereas, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., brought his passion for 

equal justice into the international arena as a consultant 

to the President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, on the 

formation of the Constitution of South Africa, and as an 

advocate for grass roots democracy education in South 

Africa; 

Whereas, in 1995, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., continued his 

commitment to public service when appointed by President William Jefferson Clinton to the United States 

Commission on Civil Rights; 

Whereas, as an author and contributor to more than 100 

publications and academic works, A. Leon Higginbotham, 

Jr., left a legacy as a renowned scholar of racial and social justice issues in the United States; 

Whereas, A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.’s critically acclaimed 

historical works, including ‘‘In the Matter of Color: The 


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Colonial Period’’, published in 1978, and ‘‘Shades of 

Freedom: Racial Politics and Presumptions in the American Legal Process’’, published in 1996, continue to provide invaluable insight into the history of race relations 

in the United States; 

Whereas, as a sought-after public speaker, after his retirement A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., delivered more than 

100 speeches annually to motivate the next generation of 

people in the United States to continue the fight for racial justice; 

Whereas A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., received numerous honors and awards during his lifetime, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Raoul Wallenberg Humanitarian Award, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Spingarn Medal, the American 

Civil Liberties Union Medal, the Lifetime Achievement 

Award from the Philadelphia Bar Association, the Silver 

Gavel Award from the American Bar Association, America’s Ten Outstanding Young Men of 1963 from the 

United States Junior Chamber of Commerce, and honorary degrees from more than 60 universities; and 

Whereas A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.’s work as an esteemed 

jurist, scholar, and public servant helped transform the 

Nation’s perception of race: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) commemorates the life of the late A. Leon 

3 Higginbotham, Jr.; 

4 (2) salutes the lasting legacy of A. Leon 

5 Higginbotham, Jr.’s achievements; and 


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1 (3) encourages the continued pursuit of A. 

2 Leon Higginbotham, Jr.’s vision of eliminating ra3 cial prejudice from all aspects of our society. 

Æ 


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