University of Virginia Library

A. Farewell To Judge Michie

The federal bench in Virginia loses one
of its most distinguished jurists with the
retirement of Judge Thomas J. Michie of
Charlottesville. The White House announced
Monday that Mr. Michie, 71, appointed for
life as a U.S. District Court Judge, has
assumed inactive status due to ill health.

Judge Michie, a Charlottesville resident
for more than 60 years, was one of the best
of the group of Southern judges appointed
by President Kennedy in 1961—a group,
unlike Eisenhower's appointees, unfortunately
characterized by racists like
Judge Cox of Mississippi.

Judge Michie's brief tenure on the federal
bench covered an extremely important period
in Virginia legal history, with the judge
participating in a number of school integration
cases, in the three-judge panel
which invalidated the state poll tax, and in
the panel which restrained the state from
enforcing the color ban in the Sweet Briar
College will case.

He was a firm adherent to the principle
of freedom of choice for pupils and became
convinced that a "true" freedom of
choice was made possible only by the integration
of school facilities.

An alumnus of the University and veteran
of two world wars, Judge Michie brought
to the courtroom an historian's appreciation
of the national heritage. Characteristically,
he began the practice of holding
Fourth of July naturalization ceremonies at
Monticello. He will be missed.