Griffin Bell: A lion in court

NEW YORK - The New Year begins with the passing of one of the greats of our legal profession: Former United States Attorney General Griffin Bell.

In Session anchor Jami Floyd

A son of the south, Bell was born in Americus, Georgia and came of age in the era of Atticus Finch. Like the fictional Finch, Bell's childhood was marked by the stark inequality of segregation, an experience that informed his life as a lawyer. But this real life lion in court is perhaps most famous for his turn as Attorney General under President Carter.

I was just a child, but I knew his name and I was already wanting to be a lawyer when I grew up. So I knew of this man, the country's top lawyer. This was, after all, the Watergate-era and Bell restored the good name of Justice Department. But he wanted to be remembered most for his work on what he called the "schools cases."

Bell, you see, had trouble squaring segregation with his Christian faith. So when President Kennedy appointed him to the federal bench for the 5th circuit down south, Bell had a hand in more one hundred and forty-one school desegregation cases. And he had no sympathy for white school districts that dragged their feet on desegregation orders.

Bell was not an activist. His was a key moderate voice during one of the most tumultuous periods in American history. Griffin Bell was 90-years-old when he died last week. He was buried in Americus and chose these words for his epitaph: Citizen Soldier, Trial Lawyer, Federal Appellate Judge, Attorney General of the United States.

-Jami Floyd, In Session anchor