James Edwin Horton
Encyclopedia
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
for the Eighth Circuit Court in Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
. He was elected in 1922 and again in 1928.
Birth and education
Judge Horton was born in 1878, the son of James Horton, Sr. and Emily Donelson. His mother was the niece of former President of the United StatesPresident of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
. He is known to have been born somewhere in Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, although precisely where is unclear. At some point during his childhood he moved to Athens, Alabama
Athens, Alabama
Athens is a city in Limestone County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city is 18,967. According to the 2009 U.S. Census estimates, the city had a population of 24,234...
.
He had no formal education until the age of eight or nine. He was a sickly child and had to rely on his mother's care. Nothing is known about Judge Horton's high school education. The next record of him appeared when he enrolled in Vanderbilt University's
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
medical studies program. His decision to become a doctor was influenced by his father.
After a year Horton decided that medicine was not for him and transferred to Cumberland University
Cumberland University
Cumberland University is a private university in Lebanon, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1842, though the current campus buildings were constructed between 1892 and 1896.-History:...
in Lebanon, Tennessee
Lebanon, Tennessee
Lebanon is a city in Wilson County, Tennessee, in the United States. The population was 20,235 at the 2000 census. It serves as the county seat of Wilson County. Lebanon is located in middle Tennessee, approximately 25 miles east of downtown Nashville. Local residents have also called it...
and gained his B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 1897. At Cumberland School of Law
Cumberland School of Law
Cumberland School of Law is an ABA accredited law school at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. The 11th oldest law school in the United States, it is 160 years old and has more than 11,000 graduates. Its alumni include two United States Supreme Court Justices; Nobel Peace Prize recipient...
he earned his Bachelor of Law degree in 1899. Horton's clerked for his father, a Probate Judge, before entering into a private practice.
Career
Judge Horton served one term in the Alabama State Legislature from 1910-1914. Following this he served in the Alabama State Senate. His term as a Senator was cut short when a chancery courtChancery Court
The Chancery Court of York is an ecclesiastical court for the Province of York of the Church of England.The presiding officer, the Official Principal and Auditor, has been the same person as the Dean of the Arches since the nineteenth century . The Court comprises the Auditor, two clergy and two...
opening appeared, which he took.
He eventually left his seat on the chancery court, returning to his old law practice and farming his land. He continued with this life for some time, before being elected judge of the Eighth Circuit Court, as noted above. It was during his second term that Judge Horton got the most important case of his career: the re-trials of the Scottsboro Boys
Scottsboro Boys
The Scottsboro Boys were nine black teenage boys accused of rape in Alabama in 1931. The landmark set of legal cases from this incident dealt with racism and the right to a fair trial...
.
Scottsboro Boys re-trials
Judge Horton presided over the re-trials of the Scottsboro Boys. Both the prosecution and defense agreed with his choice. Numerous comparisons were made in the media to his resemblance to former President Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
. He was represented as the perfect man for the job. However, much to the prosecution's dismay, Judge Horton issued a startling revoke of the State's case after a conviction and death penalty were handed down against Haywood Patterson
Haywood Patterson
Haywood Patterson was one of the Scottsboro Boys . He was accused of raping Victoria Price and Ruby Bates...
. To quote:
After handing down this statement, Judge Horton was taken off the case by the Alabama Supreme Court
Alabama Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Alabama is the highest court in the state of Alabama. The court consists of an elected Chief Justice and eight elected Associate Justices. Each justice is elected in partisan elections for staggered six year terms. The Governor of Alabama may fill vacancies when they occur...
. In his place, the State put Judge William Washington Callahan.
End of career
The year after Judge Horton's statement, he lost his re-election bid to Aquilla Griffith, 9,416-6,856. He then retired to his farm and tried to live a quiet life. This was disturbed in March 1934, when he sold the Tennessee Valley AuthorityTennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
his land so that they could build the Wheeler Dam
Wheeler Dam
Wheeler Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River between Lauderdale County and Lawrence County in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is one of nine dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the mid-1930s as part of a New Deal-era initiative...
.
Using the proceeds of this sale, Judge Horton bought 1400 acres (5.7 km²) of land in Greenbrier, Alabama
Greenbrier, Alabama
Greenbrier is an unincorporated cotton gin community in south eastern Limestone County, Alabama, United States. The community is known locally for its barbecue....
. He then took his family home in Athens apart piece-by-piece and reassembled it in Greenbrier.
At Greenbrier, he devoted his time to farming. He raised cotton, corn, and soybeans, as well as the largest herd of Aberdeen-Angus cattle in Alabama.
He died in March 1973 from old age. He is immortalized in a bronze plaque on the south wall of the courtroom where he heard the Scottsboro cases:
So far as the law is concerned it knows neither native nor alien, Jew nor Gentile, black nor white. This case is no different from any other. We have only to do our duty without fear or favor.