American Bar Association re: Judge Robert L. Carter, Civil Rights Litigation Hero, Deputy to Thurgood Marshall

Obituaries

Former Judge Who Fought Segregation in Brown v. Board of Education Case Dies at 94

Posted Jan 4, 2012 7:03 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

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A former federal judge who joined Thurgood Marshall in the legal fight to end segregation has died at the age of 94.

Robert Carter died Tuesday of complications from a stroke, the New York Times reports. He is best known for his legal arguments in the landmark school desegregation case, Brown v. Board of Education. He also worked on housing discrimination and election rights cases in his tenure with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc.

Carter advocated using psychological testimony in Brown v. Board of Education to show that black children fared worse in segregated schools, the Times says. The Supreme Court accepted the argument of Carter and his colleagues that segregation was unconstitutional on its face.

As a federal judge, Carter presided over the merger of the National Basketball Association and the American Basketball Association in the 1970s.

The Times calls Carter “a leading strategist and a persuasive voice in the legal assault on racial segregation in 20th-century America.”