Robert Nelson Cornelius Nix Jr. (July 13, 1928 – August 23, 2003) served as the chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court from 1984 to 1996.R. N. C. Nix Jr., 75, Groundbreaking Judge, ''New York Times'', August 26, 2003, available at 2003 WLNR 5648617 Nix was the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

Chief Justice of any state's highest court, and the first African American to be elected to statewide office in Pennsylvania. He served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania for 24 years, 12 of which were as chief justice, and was a prominent figure in Pennsylvania law and public service for more than three decades.

Personal life

Nix was born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, on July 13, 1928. He was the son of

Robert N. C. Nix Sr. Robert Nelson Cornelius Nix Sr. (August 9, 1898 – June 22, 1987) was an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1958 until 1979. He was the first African American to represent Pennsylvania in the House ...

, the first of Pennsylvania's African American Representative in the United States Congress and a powerhouse among city Democrats.In Memoriam - Robert N. C. Nix Jr.
/ref> Nix's grandfather was Nelson Cornelius Nix, who was born into

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

but eventually became a minister and an academic dean of South Carolina State College at Orangeburg. Nix was a 1946 graduate of Central High School,"Ex-Justice Robert Nix dead at 75", ''Philadelphia Inquirer'', August 24, 2003. a 1950 graduate and valedictorian of

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic church, Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinians in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Sa ...

, and a second-generation graduate of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

Law School. He was also a postgraduate of

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

for Business Administration and Economics.

Legal career

After graduating from law school, Nix spent 2 years serving 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 ...

before becoming a Deputy Attorney General in 1956.University of Pennsylvania Obituary
''The Pennsylvania Gazette''. After two years in the Attorney General's Office he joined his father's law firm, Nix, Rhodes and Nix, as a partner, where he gained a reputation as a civil rights advocate. During the 1960s, he represented United Neighbors, a citizens' group advocating improvements in a blighted section of West Philadelphia. He served as a member of the mayor's advisory committee on civil rights in 1963, where he raised questions about racial discrimination in city government hiring, and pushed for action against slumlords. Following the

assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr., an African-American clergyman and civil rights leader, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he died at 7 ...

, Nix commented that unless the nation made a commitment to racial equality, it faced "an internal conflagration that will reduce it to ashes." He also defended Philadelphia Magistrate Earl Lane in a 1966 case with political and racial overtones. Lane was accused of collecting $2 to $20 fees for signing copies of charges that released people accused of crimes, a procedure that was supposed to be free or, if bail was required, cost a dollar. Nix unsuccessfully sought a new judge and a change of venue for the trial, contending that Lane, a former Pullman porter and Democratic committeeman, had been unfairly singled out for prosecution on charges far more minor than those the other magistrates faced. After Lane was convicted and sentenced to 11 to 23 months in prison, Nix said Lane was "the first man in the history of the state charged with this crime" and that at least 19 other magistrates did the same thing but had not been charged.

Judicial career

In 1967 Nix was elected as a judge on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. He was appointed an associate justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court by Governor Milton Shapp in 1971, and was elected the following year. He was the first African American elected to statewide office in Pennsylvania history. Of his election, Justice Nix said: "'' shows that the people want ideas, that they are not interested in race, creed or color. I'm particularly impressed by the vote in the central counties. It is just unbelievable that a Philadelphia candidate won there. And a black man!''" He became chief justice in 1984, replacing former Chief Justice Samuel J. Roberts. From 1991 to 1992 he served as President of the National Conference of Chief Justices.The Honorable Life of a Justice, Sherri Kimmel, 18 Pennsylvania Lawyer 43. On the high court, Justice Nix developed a reputation as a voice for individual rights. A champion of the broader rights accorded by the state constitution, Justice Nix led the court to interpret the Pennsylvania Constitution to ensure more individual rights than the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...

, especially in the areas of search and seizure and sovereign immunity. He was also an early voice against prosecutors using their power to exclude African Americans from juries. Although generally considered a liberal, in 1977 he was the lone voice for upholding Pennsylvania's

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

statute. During his time on the Supreme Court, Nix was honored with 12 honorary doctorates and membership on the board of trustees of the American Inns of Court and many universities.

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

inducted Nix as a Commander Knight in the

Order of St. Gregory the Great The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great ( la, Ordo Sancti Gregorii Magni; it, Ordine di San Gregorio Magno) was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election as Pope. The order is one of ...

Controversies

Justice Nix was involved in several high-profile controversies. In 1966, when running for election as a judge on the Philadelphia court of common pleas, Nix was criticized for continuing to be on his father's payroll as a congressional assistant, despite working as an attorney in private practice, and for collecting money each month from Congress in rent for his father's use of space in Nix's office. The rental agreement was dropped soon after. In 1981 Justice Nix was retained for a second ten-year term in a controversial election. A public feud between Nix and Justice

Rolf Larsen Rolf Larsen (August 26, 1934 – August 11, 2014), a Democrat originally from Allegheny County, was first elected to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 1978. Background Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Larsen went to Pennsylvania State Univ ...

took on racial undertones when newspapers reported that Larsen allegedly threatened to publicize the fact that Justice Nix was black in an attempt to defeat him. Larsen was investigated and exonerated by a judicial board of inquiry, however, the disputes between the Justices continued. In 1992 Larsen was accused of improperly communicating with a trial judge about a case (Larsen was later found to have engaged in misconduct and publicly reprimanded). Larsen in turn filed court documents accusing Nix of similar conduct. Both the District and Appellate courts concluded in 1995 that Nix had, in fact, improperly intervened in the trial in question. After stepping down in 1996, Justice Nix said his difficulties with Larsen were "regrettable, but we were able to eliminate that and restore confidence in the judicial system." Larsen was ultimately impeached and removed from office for unrelated misconduct.

Retirement and death

In 1996 Nix announced his retirement from the bench, two years prior to his mandatory retirement."Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Nix announces retirement from bench", ''Jet Magazine'', March 25, 1996. In announcing his retirement, Nix said, "It is time for me to walk away and smell the daisies." He indicated that he planned to travel and write, avocations he had put on hold. On August 23, 2003, Nix died in Philadelphia, after suffering from

Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As t ...

disease. The official biography of Justice Nix was published in 2010.''The Biography of Robert N.C. Nix Jr.''
Amazon.

References