Executive Branch
1st Black Federal Judge in Ala. Resigns; Waited So Obama Could Fill Vacancy
After almost 30 years on the bench, Alabama’s first African-American federal judge resigned today.
U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon had said last year that he planned to retire once President Barack Obama was in office, the Birmingham News reported at the time, and he has now officially notified the new president in a letter of his resignation, the newspaper reports today.
A civil rights lawyer before he was appointed to the court by President Jimmy Carter in 1980, Clemon will continue on the bench until Jan. 31. On Feb. 1, he plans to begin practicing with White Arnold & Dowd in Birmingham.
