Seybourn Harris Lynne (July 25, 1907 – September 10, 2000) was an American jurist. He was
United States district judge
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
for the
. He was
Chief Judge
A chief judge (also known as presiding judge, president judge or principal judge) is the highest-ranking or most senior member of a lower court or circuit court with more than one judge. According to the Federal judiciary of the United States, th ...
of the court from 1953 to 1973. At the time of his death, he was the longest-serving judge on the federal bench and the last remaining judge appointed by President Truman. Judge Lynne served from 1946 to 2000, although his final 27 years were in
senior status
Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...
.
Early life and career
Lynne was born in
Decatur,
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County
, LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham
, area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...
in 1907. His father, Seybourn Arthur Lynne, was at attorney who served in the
Alabama House of Representatives and the
Alabama Senate
The Alabama State Senate is the upper house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alabama. The body is composed of 35 members representing an equal number of districts across the state, with each district conta ...
.
Lynne received a
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...
degree from
Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now
Auburn University) in 1927 and 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 Ch ...
from the
University of Alabama School of Law
The University of Alabama School of Law, (formerly known as the Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. School of Law at The University of Alabama) located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama is a nationally ranked top-tier law school and the only public law school in the st ...
in 1930. He was in private practice in Decatur from 1930 to 1934. In 1934, he was elected as a judge in
Morgan County.
He was elected a judge for the
Eighth Circuit of Alabama in 1940. In 1942, Lynne joined the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
, where he served in the
Judge Advocate General's Corps
The Judge Advocate General's Corps, also known as JAG or JAG Corps, is the military justice branch or specialty of the United States Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy. Officers serving in the JAG Corps are typically called jud ...
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 opposing ...
. He served through 1946 and advanced to the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Federal judicial service
On December 14, 1945, Lynne was nominated by President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
to a seat on the vacated by Judge Thomas Alexander Murphree. Lynne was confirmed by 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 ...
on December 20, 1945, and received his commission on January 3, 1946. In 1953, he became the Chief Judge of the court.
Lynne was involved in a number of civil rights cases during his service. On June 5, 1956, in the ''Browder v. Gayle
''Browder v. Gayle'', 142 F. Supp. 707 (1956),[''Browder v. Gayle''](_blank)
14 ...
'' case, the District Court ruled 2-1, that bus segregation is unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Lynne wrote the dissenting opinion in the case.[''Browder v. Gayle''](_blank)
District Court of the United States for the Middle District of Alabama Northern Division, June 19, 1956, retrieved October 29, 2005. In this case, Lynne's dissent was based on his belief that ''Brown v. Board of Education
''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...
'' desegregated only educational facilities; but for other public services ''Plessy v. Ferguson
''Plessy v. Ferguson'', 163 U.S. 537 (1896), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that racial segregation laws did not violate the U.S. Constitution as long as the facilities for each race were equal in qualit ...
'' remained in effect. This was the first case that extended desegregation to additional facilities, effectively overruling the Supreme Court in ''Plessy''.
In 1957, in the ''Baldwin v Morgan'' case, Judge Lynne refused to order the desegregation of waiting rooms at Birmingham Terminal Station
The Birmingham Terminal Station (or simply Birmingham Terminal), completed in 1909, was the principal railway station for Birmingham, Alabama (United States) until the 1950s. It was demolished in 1969, and its loss still serves as a rallying ima ...
after two black residents were arrested for using the whites-only facilities. The plaintiffs' attorney, Oscar Adams
Oscar William Adams, Jr. (February 7, 1925 – February 15, 1997) was the first African-American Alabama Supreme Court justice and the first African American elected to statewide office in Alabama (including the Reconstruction era).
Early l ...
, sought a summary judgment to desegregate the waiting rooms. His view was that no law compelled the passengers to observe the signs and, so while their arrest was improper, there was no further action to be taken as this was not legally segregated. His ruling was overturned by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following federal judicial districts:
* Eastern District of Louisiana
* M ...
on appeal in 1961.
Lynne heard two cases on school desegregation in Birmingham, ''Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham Board of Education'' in 1958 and ''Armstrong v. Birmingham Board of Education'' in 1963. In both cases, Birmingham schools officially did not discriminate on school admissions based on race, but implemented an achievement test that resulted in black students being denied admission to all-white schools. Lynne denied the plaintiff's request to overturn the school admission standards because the plaintiffs had not exhausted all of their remedies. After the case was appealed, the Fifth Circuit overruled Lynne and ordered him to issue a ruling to desegregate the schools. As an added complication, Lynne, as the Chief Judge, imposed a procedural rule that out-of-state attorneys had to associate with a local law firm in order to argue a case in the court. In one case, a local attorney was pressured to sever his ties with the black lawyers, depriving them of an opportunity to have cases heard in Lynne's Court.
In June 1963, he ordered Governor George Wallace, who had promised to block the entrance doors of the University of Alabama
The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...
to prevent black students from registering, to allow Vivian Malone Jones
Vivian Juanita Malone Jones (July 15, 1942 – October 13, 2005) was one of the first two black students to enroll at the University of Alabama in 1963, and in 1965 became the university's first black graduate. She was made famous when George Wa ...
and James Hood
James Alexander Hood (November 10, 1942 – January 17, 2013) was one of the first African Americans to enroll at the University of Alabama in 1963, and was made famous when Alabama Governor George Wallace attempted to block him and fellow ...
to enter the university, ending segregation at that institution. Lynne's ruling emphasized that law and order had to be maintained and that Wallace could not prevent enforcement of the laws.
His views on civil rights did change slightly over time. In '' Washington v. Lee'' of 1966, his court overturned racial segregation in prisons, requiring integration of all facilities. His ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1968.
In 1973, Judge Lynne took on senior status and continued to hear cases until 2000. In 1995, the federal courthouse in Decatur, Alabama was renamed in his honor.[ Lynne died on September 10, 2000 in Birmingham.]
See also
* List of United States federal judges by longevity of service
This is a list of Article III United States federal judges by longevity of service. The judges on the lists below were presidential appointees who have been confirmed by the Senate, and who served on the federal bench for over 40 years. It includ ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynne, Seybourn Harris
1907 births
2000 deaths
Auburn University alumni
University of Alabama School of Law alumni
Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama
United States district court judges appointed by Harry S. Truman
20th-century American judges
United States Army officers
People from Decatur, Alabama
United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps