J. Skelly Wright
| J. Skelly Wright | |
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 |
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| Chief Judge of United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit | |
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In office 1978–1981 |
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| Nominated by | Jimmy Carter |
| Preceded by | David L. Bazelon |
| Succeeded by | Carl E. McGowan |
| Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit | |
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In office March 30, 1962 – June 1, 1986 |
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| Nominated by | John F. Kennedy |
| Preceded by | E. Barrett Prettyman |
| Succeeded by | Douglas H. Ginsburg |
| Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana | |
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In office March 9, 1950 – April 15, 1962 |
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| Preceded by | Wayne G. Borah |
| Succeeded by | Frank Burton Ellis |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
James Skelly Wright January 14, 1911 New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Died | August 6, 1988 (aged 77) Westmoreland Hills, Maryland |
James Skelly Wright (January 14, 1911 – August 6, 1988) was a judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and anti-segregationist during the Civil Rights Movement. The J. Skelly Wright Professorship at Yale Law School, currently held by Heather Gerken, is named in his honor.
Wright was born in 1911 in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he lived for much of his early life. Wright attended Loyola University New Orleans where he received his undergraduate in 1932, and the Loyola University New Orleans College of Law where he received his law degree while studying part-time in 1936. While attending Loyola he was a member of Alpha Delta Gamma National Catholic Fraternity. He was an Assistant U.S. attorney of Eastern District of Louisiana from 1937 to 1942. He was a U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander from 1942 to 1945. Wright was an Assistant U.S. attorney of Eastern District of Louisiana from 1945 to 1947. He then served as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana (New Orleans) from 1947 to 1949. He then was in private practice of law in Washington, DC to 1948.
Judge Wright served at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana from 1949 to 1962, where he was an important leader during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis. In 1960, he struck down twenty-nine segregation laws passed by the state legislature, which had also named a committee headed by then Representative Risley C. Triche of Napoleonville to take over operation of Orleans Parish public schools. Wright's first desegregation order had been for the Louisiana State University Law School in 1951. His vigorous enforcement of Brown v. Board of Education (1954), however, made him many enemies amongst the predominantly white political and business culture of New Orleans to the extent that his entire family was soon ostracized and isolated from much of New Orleans' society life.
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