A Passion for Justice

This book tells the story of Judge Waring of South Carolina, who in the 1940s and 1950s made some brave and significant rulings in support of civil rights and against segregation.

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This book tells the story of a brave man in troubled times. Judge J. Waties Waring, a member of the old South Carolina family, served on the United States district court in Charleston, South Carolina from 1942 to 1952. Little in his background and early judicial tenure suggested one willing to risk community standing in the cause of racial justice. During the last half of his judicial tenure, however, Waring issued a number of significant and controversial civil rights decisions, most notably rulings rejecting South Carolina's efforts to maintain all-white democratic primaries. Moreover when his fellow jurists on a three-judge court upheld South Carolina's segregated school system, he vigorously dissented, becoming the first modern judge to contend that segregated facilities are inherently unequal.