Richard Rives

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Richard Rives
Senior Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
In office
October 1, 1981 – October 27, 1982
Senior Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
In office
February 15, 1966 – October 1, 1981
Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
In office
1959–1960
Preceded byJoseph Chappell Hutcheson Jr.
Succeeded byElbert Tuttle
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
In office
May 3, 1951 – February 15, 1966
Appointed byHarry S. Truman
Preceded byLeon Clarence McCord
Succeeded byJohn Cooper Godbold
Personal details
Born
Richard Taylor Rives

(1895-01-15)January 15, 1895
Montgomery, Alabama, US
DiedOctober 27, 1982(1982-10-27) (aged 87)
Montgomery, Alabama, US
Political partyDemocratic
RelativesCallie V. Granade
EducationTulane University
Reading law

Richard Taylor Rives (January 15, 1895 – October 27, 1982) was an

African-Americans.[1] At that time, the Fifth Circuit included not only Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas (its current jurisdiction), but also Alabama, Georgia, and Florida (which were subsequently split off into the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit), and the Panama Canal Zone
.

Ancestry

He is a descendant of Robert Ryves (Reve) of Dorset. [2]

Early and family life

Born in Montgomery, Montgomery County, Alabama, on January 15, 1895, to William Henry Rives (1854-1922) and his wife, the former Alice Bloodworth Taylor (1856-1943), Rives had five siblings. A maternal great-great-grandfather had served as the first Baptist minister in Montgomery. Three of his great-great-great-great grandfathers had served in the American Revolutionary War: Captain William Sanford (1734-1806) had carried dispatches to France before settling in Georgia, Major John Mason (1716-1785) had acted as Justice of Sussex County, Virginia during that time, and Private James McLemore (1718-1800) had also served the Revolutionary cause in Granville County, North Carolina.[3] Both sides of his family had operated large plantations using enslaved labor before the American Civil War.[4]

Rives attended the public high school in Montgomery and graduated as valedictorian of his class. He then won a tuition scholarship and began studies at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. However, Rives also had to borrow money for living expenses from his sister, so he withdrew from the university after a year and began working for Wiley Hill, an attorney practicing in Montgomery whose family plantation had shared a border with the Rives' plantation before the American Civil War. Rives would later receive honorary degrees from the University of Notre Dame in 1966 and Cumberland Law School at Samford University in 1975.[5]

Early career, military service and family life

After

reading law, Rives passed the Alabama bar examination in 1914, although just 19 years old. He was in private practice in Montgomery, Alabama, from 1914 to 1916.[6] During World War I, Rives joined the Alabama National Guard, then served in the United States Army (1916 to 1919; commissioned a first lieutenant in 1917).[6] While stationed in Macon, Georgia, Rives met Jessie H. Daugherty. They married soon after he left the Army, and would have four children, although two died as infants.[4] Rives's relationship with his son and namesake Richard Rives Jr. (1922-1949) would later greatly affect his attitudes toward racial discrimination. His son had attended the University of Exeter in England and Harvard University in Massachusetts, then become severely ill while serving in the Pacific theater during World War II. Based on his own reading and discussions with African American soldiers hospitalized with him, the younger Rives determined to confront issues involved in what many Southerners called "the race question." He also went to the University of Michigan Law school, advised his father to read Gunnar Myrdal's treatise and planned to join the family law firm, but died in an auto accident in 1949. After his wife's death in 1973, Rives in 1976 married Martha Blake Thigpen Frazer, but they had no children.[4]

Career

In 1919 Rives returned to private practice in Montgomery after his World War I service, and became involved in politics and the

Lister Hill.[4]

Federal judicial service

Rives was nominated by President Harry S. Truman on April 12, 1951, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated by Judge Leon Clarence McCord. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 1, 1951, and received his commission on May 3, 1951. He served as Chief Judge and as a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 1959 to 1960. He assumed senior status on February 15, 1966. Rives was reassigned by operation of law to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on October 1, 1981, pursuant to 94 Stat. 1994. His service terminated on October 27, 1982, due to his death.[6]

Civil rights cases

The Fifth Circuit supervised federal district judges in six southern states. By the time of the United States Supreme Court rulings concerning desegregation in

Massive Resistance. He also became involved in cases concerning bus desegregation, legislative redistricting and jury selection.[4]

Death and legacy

Rives died at home in Montgomery, age 87 on October 27, 1982, after a long illness.[5]

Rive's granddaughter, United States District Judge

United States Supreme Court.[7][8][9]

See also

Jack Bass, Unlikely Heroes Tuscaloosa, Ala.: University of Alabama Press, 1981.

References

  1. ^ Jack Bass, "The 'Fifth Circuit Four'", The Nation, May 3, 2004, p. 30-32.
  2. ^ "Rives, Christopher".
  3. ^ Sons of American Revolution application of Thom Christopher Rives in 1941
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Richard T. Rives - Encyclopedia of Alabama". Encyclopedia of Alabama.
  5. ^ a b c "Richard T. Rives, Judge on Court That Helped Integrate the South". The New York Times. 30 October 1982.
  6. ^ a b c "Rives, Richard Taylor - Federal Judicial Center". www.fjc.gov.
  7. ^ Kirby, Brendan (January 23, 2015). "Federal judge strikes down Alabama's same-sex marriage ban". AL.com. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
  8. ^ "Same-sex marriage to begin in Alabama as federal court affirms end of ban". The Guardian (UK). February 3, 2015. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  9. ^ de Vogue, Ariane; Diamond, Jeremy (June 27, 2015). "Supreme Court rules in favor of same-sex marriage nationwide". CNN. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
Legal offices
Preceded by Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
1951–1966 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
1959–1960 		Succeeded by
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