More amnesia about Charles Clark

We commented a little while back on the passing of Charles Clark, longtime judge on the 5th Circuit, and how odd it was that his AP obituary omitted to mention that he was an attorney for the State of Mississippi in the James Meredith case.

Judge Leslie Southwick has now penned a commemoration of Judge Clark which suffers from the same amnesia: all Southwick writes about Clark's pre-bench practice is "He practiced law in Jackson until being appointed by President Nixon in 1969 as a judge on the 5th Circuit." There is literally more about his military service than about anything he might've done while being a practicing attorney.

As our first post noted, Judge Clark thought he did well to represent the State in Meredith's case, and by all accounts the Fifth Circuit's judges were generally pleased with his advocacy and professionalism. Omissions like Judge Southwick's create the impression that there is something to hide about Charles Clark -- an impression that the late judge surely would not have wished anyone to create.

(H/t to How Appealing -- I'd seen the op-ed yesterday in the dead-tree edition, but Bashman's post reminded me to blog on it.)