James Clinton Turk (May 3, 1923 – July 6, 2014) was a Virginia lawyer, state senator and for more than four decades,

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia The United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia (in case citations, W.D. Va.) is a United States district court. Appeals from the Western District of Virginia are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth ...

Early and family life

Born in Roanoke County,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, Turk grew up on a farm near Garden City, Virginia. His parents were a farmer and a schoolteacher; his brother Maynard also became a lawyer. Turk attended a one-room schoolhouse and later William Byrd High School in Vinton, Virginia, graduating in 1939. His first full-time job was with the

Norfolk and Western Railroad The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisio ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he was a Staff Sergeant in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

, from 1943 to 1946, and then served with the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed F ...

until the 1960s. Using his

GI Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

, Turk received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from

Roanoke College Roanoke College is a private liberal arts college in Salem, Virginia. It has approximately 2,000 students who represent approximately 40 states and 30 countries. The college offers 35 majors, 57 minors and concentrations, and pre-professional pr ...

in Salem in 1949. He received a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from

Washington and Lee University School of Law The Washington and Lee University School of Law (W&L Law) is the professional graduate law school of Washington and Lee University. It is a private American Bar Association-accredited law school located in Lexington in the Shenandoah Valley reg ...

in 1952 (graduating second in his class). He was a member of

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

Omicron Delta Kappa Omicron Delta Kappa (), also known as The Circle and ODK, is one of the most prestigious honor societies in the United States with chapters at more than 300 college campuses. It was founded December 3, 1914, at Washington and Lee University in ...

and the

Order of the Coif The Order of the Coif is an honor society for United States law school graduates. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of advocates, the serjeants-at-law, whose courtroom attire included a coif—a white lawn or silk skullcap, whi ...

. He married Barbara Duncan, and they had five children.

Political career

Turk was in private practice in Radford, Virginia from 1952 to 1972, mostly with the firm of Dalton, Poff & Turk. Voters in

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...

, Montomery and Roanoke Counties and the city of Radford elected Turk to represent them (part-time) in the

Virginia State Senate The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 Senate, senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the Lieutenant Governor ...

in November 1959. He served until 1972, and was minority leader from 1965 to 1972. However, his district's boundaries and number changed drastically, both as a result of the

Massive Resistance Massive resistance was a strategy declared by U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd Sr. of Virginia and his brother-in-law James M. Thomson, who represented Alexandria in the Virginia General Assembly, to get the state's white politicians to pass laws and p ...

controversy engulfing Virginia, as well as reapportionments necessitated by census changes, the

Voting Rights Act of 1965 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movement ...

and U.S. Supreme Court decisions (especially

Davis v. Mann ''Davis v. Mann'', 377 U.S. 678 (1964), was a United States Supreme Court which was one of a series of cases decided in 1964 that ruled that state legislature districts had to be roughly equal in population. David J. Mays and Robert McIlwaine a ...

in 1963). Turk initially replaced fellow Republican Ted Dalton (his law partner) who had represented the same 21st district, and who had become U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Virginia (a position Turk later also secured). Turk also followed Dalton's footsteps in helping to end Massive Resistance and the domination of the

Byrd Organization The Byrd machine, or Byrd organization, was a political machine of the Democratic Party led by former Governor and U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd (1887–1966) that dominated Virginia politics for much of the 20th century. From the 1890s until the l ...

. For the 1963 elections, the district covering the same counties and city was renamed the 20th, and the 21st became what had been the 22nd. The restructuring in the 1965 elections was major: Montgomery and Franklin Counties and the city of Radford were now joined as the 13th district with Carroll and Floyd Counties and the city of

Galax ''Galax'', the wandplant, wandflower, or beetleweed, is a genus in the flowering plant family Diapensiaceae, containing a single species, ''Galax urceolata'' (synonym (taxonomy), syn. ''G. rotundifolia'', ''G. aphylla''). It is native to the sou ...

(which had been represented as the 14th district by Republican S. Floyd Landreth, who had been the only other Republican in the Senate when Turk began, and who now retired). Restructuring after the 1970 census also proved major: Turk was elected from the 37th district, which included the cities of Radford and Galax, as well as Carroll, Floyd, Grayson and Montgomery Counties. Upon Turk's resignation upon becoming a federal judge, as discussed below, John N. Dalton replaced him.

Federal judicial service

On September 25, 1972, President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

nominated Turk to a seat on the

vacated by Judge

Hiram Emory Widener Jr. Hiram Emory Widener Jr. (April 20, 1923 – September 19, 2007) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Early life and career Born on April 20, 1923, in Abingdon, Virginia, Widener receive ...

The

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

confirmed him on October 12, 1972, and he received his commission on October 17, 1972. Turk served as Chief Judge from 1973 to 1993, and assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

on November 1, 2002, after nearly three decades on the bench. He nonetheless continued to hear many cases, stating in May (shortly before his death) that he was planning to reduce his workload in November. Perhaps his highest profile case involved Rev. Jerry Falwell and Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt. Observers noted that his courtesy and folksy demeanor sometimes caused underestimation of his sharp legal mind. Judge Turk's humility was also shown by his practice of always taking a trash bag on his neighborhood walks, in order to clean up after others.

Death and legacy

Turk died on July 6, 2014, in Radford, survived by his wife, five children and many grandchildren. His eldest son Jimmy is a criminal defense attorney in Montgomery County, and his son Bobby Turk became a Montgomery County judge in 2000.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Turk, James Clinton 1923 births 2014 deaths Washington and Lee University School of Law alumni Roanoke College alumni Republican Party Virginia state senators Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia United States district court judges appointed by Richard Nixon 20th-century American judges United States Army personnel of World War II People from Roanoke County, Virginia Military personnel from Virginia People from Radford, Virginia 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American judges