Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-01-07
OF ALEX G. KING
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
u. S. SUPREME COURT
Distinguished Atlanta Lawyer
viii Be Supported by GeOr-
gia Bar as Successor to Mr.,
Justice Lamar

A movement has been inaugurated by
a number of the leading members of
the Georgia bar to present to President
Wilson the name of Alex c. King, of At
lanta.. for appointment to the United
States supreme court to fill the vacancy
caused by the death of Mr.. Justice Jo-
seph r. Lamar.
Mr. Kings name was prominently
mentioned for the supreme court five
years ago when President Taft was con-
sidering Judge Lamar, of Georgia, but
he declined to let the president con-
slider his name and went to Washington
and urged the president to appoint Judge
Lamar. who was one of his closest
friends
Mr.. King is a South Carolinian by
birth and a grandson of Mitchell King,
who was a contemporary of Henry Clay
and one of the greatest lawyers that
state ever produced.
In 1877 Mr.. King was admitted to the
bar in Atlanta and has practiced here
ever since. For thirty-one years he
has been the law partner of Jack J.
Spalding, under the firm name of King
& Spalding.
Mr.. King is regarded throughout the
southern states as one of the great
lawyers of America, and enjoys an
equally high standing in the north ana
east. He has practiced in nearly all
the great cases that have come up in
the south during the last thirty or more
years. His practice has extended to the
supreme courts of Georgia, South Caro-
lima, Alabama, Tennessee and other
southern states; to the various United
States district courts in this territory;
to the United States circuit court of APP
peaIs IN the fifth and other circuits. ana
to the supreme court of the United
States.
EARLY SHOWED ABILITY.
Early in his career Mr.. King showed
extraordinary ability. In 1885. only
eight years after being admitted to the
bar, he made a brief and argument be-
fore the supreme court of Georgia that
was singled out for special compliment
in the courts decision, thing that has
been done very few times In the court
history. In that case he was opposed
by the late United States Senator A. o.
Bacon, the late Judge John L. Hopkins,
of Atlanta, the late Judge Henry b.
Tompkins and other famous lawyers
Mr.. King also enjoys the distinction
OF having been very nlBnlS SOAhpAhhChe
ed by ex-President Taft when the lat
ter was a Judge of the United states
circuit court of appeals. Mr.. Taft saio
Of him that he had the most lucid mind
OF any lawyer that he had ever heard
make an argument. When the vacancy
arose I'm the United States supreme court
To which President Taft appointed Judge
Lamar. Mr.. King was one of the rirst
LAWYERS that came into President Tart
mind. together with Judge Lamar, whom
President Taft also knew and admired
very highly.
II is believed that no lawyer in the
United States is more familiar with fed
e-al practice and with the great consti-
tutfonal questions that come before the
federal. courts than is Mr.. King. his
knowledge of these branches of the law
was recognized a few years ago by the
United States supreme court, which ap-
pointed him as one of three lawyers In
the fifth circuit to revise the rules OF
practice in all federal courts, including
the supreme court.
Mr.. King is frequently called upon to
deliver addresses before state bar assoc
Citations on legal subjects, and since the
appointment of Judge Lamar to the
United States supreme court he has
been one of the three bar examiners OF
Georgia who pass on the written examl-
nation papers of applicants for admis-
SION to the bar, having succeeded Judge
Lamar TO this position.