Robert M. Bell
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Robert Mack Bell (born July 6, 1943) is an American lawyer and jurist from
Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
,
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...
. From 1996 to 2013, he served as Chief Judge on the
Maryland Court of Appeals The Supreme Court of Maryland (previously the Maryland Court of Appeals) is the highest court of the U.S. state of Maryland. The court, which is composed of one chief justice and six associate justices, meets in the Robert C. Murphy Courts of ...
, now known as the Supreme Court of Maryland, the state's highest appellate court. He was the first African American to hold the position. At 16 years old, Bell was the lead plaintiff in '' Bell v. Maryland'', a case that ultimately helped push the U.S. toward
desegregation Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation), leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws ...
. Bell served as a judge at every level of the Maryland court system; and on July 6, 2013, reached the state's mandatory retirement age of 70 years for appellate and circuit court judges.


Background

Born in
Rocky Mount, North Carolina Rocky Mount is a city in Nash and Edgecombe counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The city's population was 54,341 as of the 2020 census, making it the 20th-most populous city in North Carolina. The city is east of Raleigh, the st ...
, Bell's mother, a
sharecropper Sharecropping is a legal arrangement in which a landowner allows a tenant (sharecropper) to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping is not to be conflated with tenant farming, providing the tenant a ...
, moved him and his two brothers to East Baltimore when he was one and a half years old. He attended Dunbar High School with classmate and friend Reginald F. Lewis. As a 16-year-old, he and a group of students participated in a
sit-in A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to mo ...
to protest
racial segregation Racial segregation is the separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, ...
at a local restaurant. On June 17, 1960, the group of 12 students entered Hooper's Restaurant, formerly located at
Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...
and Fayette Streets in
downtown Baltimore Downtown Baltimore is the central business district of the Baltimore, city of Baltimore traditionally bounded by Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (Baltimore), Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to the west, List of streets in Baltimore#F, Frank ...
, where they were refused service and asked to leave. The students, including Bell, refused. He and the other students were arrested and convicted in the Circuit Court of Baltimore City for criminal trespassing, and fined $10. The
NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...
hired a team of lawyers, including
Thurgood Marshall Thoroughgood "Thurgood" Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme C ...
and Juanita Jackson Mitchell, to represent the students and appeal the conviction to the
Maryland Court of Appeals The Supreme Court of Maryland (previously the Maryland Court of Appeals) is the highest court of the U.S. state of Maryland. The court, which is composed of one chief justice and six associate justices, meets in the Robert C. Murphy Courts of ...
. The appellants argued that the use of the state's trespassing laws to support segregation of public accommodations violated the
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Fourteenth Amendment (Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. Considered one of the most consequential amendments, it addresses Citizenship of the United States ...
. In 1962, the Court of Appeals upheld the decision of the circuit court. The case was then appealed to the U.S Supreme Court, where Bell was represented by Constance Baker Motley and
Jack Greenberg Jack Greenberg (December 22, 1924 – October 12, 2016) was an American attorney and legal scholar. He was the Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund from 1961 to 1984, succeeding Thurgood Marshall. He was involved in numerous crucial ...
. In '' Bell v. Maryland'' (1964), the Supreme Court, noting that in the period since the students' conviction the
Maryland General Assembly The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives, and the lower ...
passed public accommodation laws and Congress passed the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...
, refused to rule whether the state's trespassing laws could be used to exclude blacks from public accommodations. The Court
vacated A vacated judgment (also known as vacatur relief) is a legal judgment that legally voids a previous legal judgment. A vacated judgment is usually the result of the judgment of an appellate court, which overturns, reverses, or sets aside the judgme ...
the decision and remanded the case to allow the state court to rule whether the conviction should be reversed due to the change in state law. On April 9, 1965, Bell's conviction was reversed by the state Court of Appeals and all of the students were cleared of all charges. The decision of the Supreme Court came just two days after the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
ended a
filibuster A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent a decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking ...
and passed the Civil Rights Act. It has been suggested that the Supreme Court refrained from reaching the merits of the case in consideration of the pending civil rights legislation, as had it done so, it would have eliminated the basis for passing the Act. Bell later attended and graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
in history from
Morgan State University Morgan State University (Morgan State or MSU) is a Public university, public historically black colleges and universities, historically black research university in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland. It is the largest of Maryland's historically bla ...
in Baltimore in 1966 and while there became a brother in
Alpha Phi Omega Alpha Phi Omega (), commonly known as APO, but also A-Phi-O and A-Phi-Q, is a national Mixed-sex education, coeducational Service fraternities and sororities, service Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It is the largest College fraterniti ...
. He then was admitted to
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...
where he earned his
Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...
in 1969. That same year he was
admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...
and began his legal practice in Baltimore.


Judicial career

In 1975, Bell was appointed to the District Court of Maryland, District 1, in Baltimore City and served there until 1980. He was an Associate Judge, Baltimore City Circuit Court, 8th Judicial Circuit, from 1980 to 1984 when he was appointed to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. Seven years later he was appointed to the state's highest court and became the chief judge in 1996. He was a member, Court of Appeals Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure from 1977 to 1982; Commission to Revise the
Annotated Code of Maryland The Annotated Code of Maryland, published by The Michie Company, is the official codification of the statutory laws of Maryland. It is organized into 36 named articles. The previous code, organized into numbered articles, has been repealed. Amen ...
, 1980–82; and the Board of Directors, Judicial Institute of Maryland, 1982–84. In August 2006, Bell was named Chair of the National Center for State Courts’ Board of Directors. At the same time, Judge Bell also was named president of the Conference of Chief Justices. In April 2013, Bell announced that he would be retiring on July 6, 2013. After reaching Maryland's mandatory retirement age for state judges, 70, Bell retired from his position as Chief Judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals on July 6, 2013.


Awards

Bell has also been the recipient of several awards: *American Bar Association D'Alemberte-Raven Award for Outstanding Leadership in Alternative Dispute Resolution *Legal Excellence Award for Advancement of Public Service Responsibility from the Maryland Bar Foundation *Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence Special Recognition Award *Maryland Leadership in Law Award *Maryland Legal Services Corporation Medal for Access to Justice


See also

*
List of African-American jurists This list includes individuals self-identified as African Americans who have made prominent contributions to the field of law in the United States, especially as eminent judges or legal scholars. Individuals who may have obtained law degrees o ...
* List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Maryland


Notes


External links


Bell's profile at the Maryland State Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Robert M. 1943 births Living people 20th-century Maryland state court judges 21st-century American state court judges African-American judges 21st-century African-American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers Chief justices of the Supreme Court of Maryland Harvard Law School alumni Maryland lawyers Morgan State University alumni People from Rocky Mount, North Carolina 20th-century African-American lawyers 20th-century American lawyers