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Event
Judge Gergel Talks about Judge J. Waties Waring and the Dissent that Changed America.
U.S. Judge Richard Gergel will speak on the topic of "J. Waties Waring and the Dissent that Changed America." Following Judge Gergel's presentation there will be a dialogue with Armand Derfner, one of the nation's leading civil rights lawyers, moderated by Chris Bryant, Esq.
Charleston Museum, 360 Meeting Street
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
5:30 wine reception
6:00 talk and conversation with questions from the audience
An opportunity to gather afterwards is planned. The location will be announced at the event.
JUDGE WATIES WARING from National Public Radio:
U.S. District Judge J. Waties Waring was the son of a Confederate soldier but later became a hero of the civil rights movement though he was vilified for his views. . .
Waring was first appointed to the bench in 1942. Nine years later, in a landmark school segregation case Briggs v. Elliott, Waring denounced segregation as an "evil that must be eradicated."
In a forceful dissent, he wrote that segregation was "per se inequality." This made him the first federal judge to take that position on "separate but equal" since Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. His dissent helped pave the way for the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954.
U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel, who today presides in the same courtroom where Waring sat more than a half century ago, has done exhaustive research into Waring's life and career, poring over the rich trove of personal papers that Waring left behind.
Gergel has struggled to understand how a man who grew up in a family devoted to the "Lost Cause" of the Confederacy could come to embrace such divergent views on civil rights.
"I think when he took office in January 1942, the last person who would have guessed that he would be a great civil rights warrior and leader would have been J. Waties Waring," Gergel said in an interview with All Things Considered host Melissa Block. "It was the furthest concept from his experience in his first 61 years of life."
Gergel has come to believe that Waring's views evolved as a result of his time on the bench, that the weight of responsibility he assumed as a federal judge changed him. He points to a number of cases Waring presided over before Briggs.
JUDGE RICHARD GERGEL
Widely regarded for his sharp legal reasoning, Judge Richard Mark Gergel has decided some of the Lowcountrys most contentious lawsuits and sentenced some of its most notorious criminals, including sentencing Dylann Roof to death. Former S.C. Attorney General Charlie Condon describes the Judge as a legal genius with an excellent judicial manner and extremely keen intellect. Having a long standing interest in the history of his native state, especially its legal milestones, he has written a book and numerous chapters on South Carolina history. His book about Judge Waties Waring is expected to come out this fall. A native of Columbia, SC he attended New College, Oxford University and Duke University, where he graduated in 1975 summa cum laude and served on the editorial Board of the Duke Law Journal. After more than 30 years practicing law Gergel was confirmed as United States District Judge by unanimous vote of the US Senate in 2010. Judge Gergel presides in the Charleston Federal Courthouse. He is married to Dr. Belinda Friedman Gergel and they have two sons, Richie and Joseph.
ARMAND DERFNER,ESQ
Armand Derfner, LL.B. has practiced civil rights law and constitutional law for more than a half century. He has argued five cases before the Supreme Court. Specializing in voting rights litigation, especially cases under the Voting Rights Act, he has frequently testified before congressional committees about voting rights legislation, most recently during the 2006 debate to renew the Voting Rights Act. He argued the first Supreme Court case to interpret Section 5 of the Act and numerous other Voting Rights Act cases since then. He has represented community organizations, drafted legislation, taught and written about law, been held in contempt several times and been arrested once, in the middle of a courtroom. He has never been disbarred but he was once accused in open court (falsely, he says) of threatening to put a bullet in the back of a clients head.
In 2002, he and his co-counsel were named Trial Lawyer of the Year by the American Trial Lawyers Association, for a 25-year case to desegregate the public universities of Mississippi. In 2007, his firm was named Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year from the American Bar Association.
He received a National Merit Scholarship the first year they were offered. At Princeton University (1960) he received the Koren Prize in History and a Woodrow Wilson Foundation Fellowship. At Yale Law School (1963), he was Note & Comment Editor of the Yale Law Journal, and was Order of the Coif.
After graduation he held various top level jobs in Washington DC before going to Mississippi for several years as a civil rights lawyer. He then spent several years back in Washington, started his practice in Charleston, continued to lobby for the Voting Rights Act in DC, spent a year as Visiting Professor of Law at the Washington College of Law of the American University and now is a partner at Derfner & Altman.
Born in Paris he emmigrated to the US with his parents at the age of two. He now lives in Charleston with his wife, Mary Giles. His sons, Joel and Jeremy, both writers, live in New York and Seattle.
CHRIS BRYANT, ESQ.
Chris Bryant is an attorney at the Charleston plaintiffs' firm of Yarborough Applegate. His experience clerking for Judge Gergel during United States v. Dylann Storm Roof factored heavily into his decision to stay in South Carolina and continue to work for justice professionally and through community involvement. Chris also serves on the Board of Charleston Legal Access where he has worked since its inception, first volunteering with intake, and then joining the board in May of 2017. Prior to moving to Charleston, Chris attended Duke University School of Law, where he was elected the first African American Editor-in-Chief of the Duke Law Journal, participated in Moot Court, and won 1st Place in the Louis Jackson National Student Memorial Writing Competition in Employment and Labor Law. After graduation, he completed a clerkship with the Honorable Judge James A. Wynn Jr. on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, followed by a clerkship in Charleston with the Honorable Richard M. Gergel. Fortunately for Charleston, he turned down a prestigious, high-salary job in Los Angeles to stay in the Holy City.
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LocationThe Charleston Museum Auditorium (View)
360 Meeting Street
Charleston, SC 29403
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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