Their fearless rulings changed the face of Dallas
Retiring judges, along with black plaintiffs, brought down segregation
The article is about two retiring judges, Jerry Buchmeyer and Barefoot Sanders. For many years Judge Barefoot Sanders has been a major contributor to the Barefoot Reunion. He once came to the reunion, but it had been canceled because of rain. According to his wife Jan Sanders, “His grandmother was Dinnie Barefoot, who named her son Harold Barefoot Sanders. My husband (the subject of the article) is a junior, and our son III is a musician in LA. He has a baby son named Cyan Barefoot Sanders. We have a granddaughter in college named Julia Barefoot DeWitt. And now the news article. Parts that apply only to Jerry Buchmeyer will be omitted.
When he graduated from law school in 1994, David McAtee II was blue-chip all the way. The son of a prominent Dallas lawyer, he graduated cum laude from Duke University, edited the University of Texas law review and was destined for the cerebral world of antitrust and securities law.
But for one memorable year before private practice, Mr. AcAtee wanted to snag a clerkship with one of two federal judges—Jerry Buchmeyer or Barefoot Sanders. The young lawyer sensed—correctly, it turned out — that the judges’ rulings in three pending civil rights lawsuits would transform some of the city’s largest institutions. At issue was segregation in Dallas: in the schools, public housing and City Hall itself.
The cases, which lasted for decades, left the judges with complex legacies of pride, and perhaps a measure of contempt in some quarters.
What really sticks out to me is their absolute lack of fear when it comes to deciding a difficult case,” Mr. McAcTee said, “When you have a case that has so many emotions involved...it’s very tempting, I’m sure, to shy away from the tricky issues.
Now their blazing careers on the federal bench are coming to a close. Judge Buckmeyer, 74, recently said he will join Judge Sanders, 82, on “inactive” status. The days of running their own courtrooms are over. They will not hear any new cases. Their replacements have been
named.
“It really is the end of an era,” said Tom Melsheimer, a former assistant U.S. attorney.
The road to a federal judgeship is typically circumspect, since nominees must get U.S. Senate confirmation. The Dallas judges took different routes to the Earle Cabell Federal Building downtown, but both got a nudge from U. S. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen and were appointed to the bench by President Jimmy Carter in 1979.
Judge Sanders was a familiar figure in political circles, having served as legislative counsel to President Lyndon Johnson, as an assistant Texas attorney general, as the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas, and as a member of the Texas Legislature during the 1950’s.
A photo of Mr. Johnson and a young, dark-haired Sanders still hangs on an office wall. It reads: “To Barefoot Sanders—From his devoted fiend.”
Judge Sanders said that working on federal voting rights legislation in Washington was the highlight of his career but that he is proud to have had a role in ending institutional segregation in Dallas.
“I’m not going to say racism is completely removed from the public arena,” he said recently. “Dallas did well. We were very slow to get there, but we came along...”
3 blockbuster cases
Though their careers span more than five decades, the judges will probably be remembered most for their long oversight of three blockbuster cases. In each, a lawsuit filed by black plaintiffs forced the government to abandon historic patterns of segregation.
· Sam Tasby sued the Dallas school district in 1970, and the case remained in court for 33 years. Judge Sanders oversaw the district
· Gradual transformation from a segregated system to one that embraced novel concepts, such as magnet schools and learning centers.
Deborah Walker was one of seven poor black women who successfully sued the Dallas housing Authority — and later the city of Dallas and the U.S. Dept of Housing and Urban Development — for illegally segregating tenants.
Judge Sanders ruled that all three government entities participated in the segregation.
· Roy Williams and Marvin Crenshaw sued the city of Dallas, saying the election system diluted minority voting strength because some City Council members were elected to “at-large” seats...Judge Buckmeyer ordered elections under an all single-member district system.
Early on Judge Sanders found that the district’s efforts to comply with the Brown decision were “almost non-existent and grudging at best.”
He said the collective attachment to segregation ran deep.
“The more vehement “of those folks felt mixing the races was inherently bad—which was nonsense,” Judge Sanders said recently. “They were afraid it would bring down the white race. Segregation was such an attitude. It was deeply fixed with a great number of people.”
The court proceedings kept both judges in the limelight for years, but few observers believe they were the envy of their peers.
Mike Daniel, the lawyer who represented the plaintiffs in the Walker and Williams Lawsuits, said the judges must have known that their decisions would have implications for their own careers.
“They know the decisions that need to be made are going to cost them,” Mr. Daniel said.
Dallas attorney Adelfa Callejo agreed, saying: “They got criticized, they were considered ultra-liberals, but they went on and it didn’t matter.”
Proud Legacy
The current chief district judge, Sidney A. Fitzwater, said he inherited a proud legacy.
“My impression of these two judges is that they were independent, courageous and did what they believed the law and the facts required, regardless of the consequences,” Judge Fitzwater said. “We who are currently on the court view these judges as giants.”
Those qualities bred intense loyalty from former law clerks like Mr. McAtee.
“They both lived by a professional code and a real sense of collegiality that marks their era,” he said. “If every person knew a lawyer like Judge Sanders or Judge Buchmeyer, there wouldn’t be any more lawyer jokes.
“Almost nonexistent and grudging at best.”
Judge Barefoot Sanders on DISD’s efforts to comply with Brown vs. Board of Education
JUDGE BAREFOOT SANDERS
Career: Assocatie, Storey, Sanders et. Al, Dallas, 1950-52; partner, Sanders, Lefkowitz & Green, 1952-58; U. S. attoney, Northern District of Texas, 1961-65; assistant deputy attorney general, 1965-66; assistant attorney general, 1966-67; legislative counsel to President Lyndon Johnson, 1967-69; partner, Clark, West, Keller, Sanders & Butler, 1969-79; appointed to the bench by President jimmy Carter, 1979; retired 2006.
Education: Bachelor’s degree, University of Texas, 1949; law degree, University of Texas School of Law, 1950.
Memberships: American Bar Association, Dallas Bar Association, American Judicature Society, Dallas Bar Foundation, Federal Bar Association, State Bar of Texas, Texas Bar Foundation.
Note: Barefoot Sanders is descended from the Barefoots of North Carolina. He has long been a supporter of the Pennsylvania Barefoot Reunion, and he has been interested in any connection that a researcher can make between the North Carolina Barefoots and the Pennsylvania Barefoots. We are proud of the manner in which Judge Barefoot Sanders has brought recognition to the Barefoot name. And we feel there is probably a relationship between the two families. This is just one more “Barefoot puzzle” for researchers to explore! By Lorie Stahl
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