The New York Times today published an obituary of retired federal district court judge, William Bootle, who died Tuesday at 102. (Hat Tip to Howard Bashman)
Although many of you will not recognize his name, Judge Bootle was one of the courageous Southern judges who upheld the principle of equality when it was, er, considerably less than popular in that time and place to do so. He was the judge who integrated the University of Georgia in 1961 in a case brought by Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter, who became well known as the journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault.
On Jan. 6, 1961, Judge Bootle ruled that the two students were “fully qualified for immediate admission,” adding that they “would already have been admitted had it not been for their race and color.”
Such overt racial discrimination still makes the blood boil … except for liberals, whose blood has turned cold on this issue. As Justice Rehnquist wrote in his Gratz v. Bollinger opinion regarding Jennifer Gratz’s application to the University of Michigan:
… applicants with the same GPA 2 score and ACT/SAT score were subject to different admissions outcomes based upon their racial or ethnic status. For example, as a Caucasian in-state applicant, Gratz
