God bless you, Skelly Wright!

If Crescat Kid Will Baude is so smart, why had he never learned more about J. Skelly Wright beyond "an inscrutable opinion in contracts class and an article about campaign finance reform"?

Higher education to the rescue!

Last night Elaine Jones, President and Director-Counsel Emeritus of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, spoke at Baude's law school on "Judicial Courage: Skelly Wright's Example." Jones' talk dealt with

"Judges like Skelly Wright, who care about issues of human rights and social justice, and the price they pay." Skelly Wright served on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana from 1949 to 1962, and he played a key role in forcing the desegregation of public facilities in and around New Orleans, including the public schools. At the same time, he was ostracized by the white community in Louisiana and, according to Jones, "basically drummed out of the state."

Jones says that Wright's career serves as an excellent example of the struggles that lawyers committed to principles of social justice often face....

And now you and Will Baude know a little bit more about this blog's patron saint.