Savannah's contributions to the legal system

Savannah’s contributions to the legal system can be partly seen in six distinct individuals. The first is James Moore Wayne. He was born in Savannah and later practiced law here. He would serve as Savannah’s mayor and president of the Georgia Historical Society along with other positions in his time here. He was elected as a United States Representative from Georgia and was a strong and loyal supporter of President Andrew Jackson while in office. It was this support that led Jackson to  nominate him for a justice position on the United States Supreme Court. He was confirmed and would serve for thirty-two years (1835 – 1867) where he was loyal to the recently deceased John Marshall’s concepts that shaped the face of the Supreme Court. Strangely enough although he owned slaves he remained a Unionist during the Civil War and was the only Southerner serving on the Supreme Court who did not resign.

The second individual also served as Savannah’s mayor, Thomas Gibbons (1791-1792, 1794-1795, 1799-1801), for four years. Gibbons was a Savannah lawyer who as mayor welcomed President George Washington to our fair city. He would also become an investor in a New York steamboat company and would hire and serve as mentor a man later to become the renowned tycoon and some say first robber baron Cornelius Vanderbilt. During this time he challenged a state decision giving his former partner (Aaron Ogden) an exclusive contract for steam boating on the New York harbor. This challenge would reach the Supreme Court and would be one of the more important decisions that body would make. The case was called Gibbons vs. Ogden.  Daniel Webster argued for the Gibbons' side and Chief Justice John Marshall would decide that it was within the constitutional authority of the federal government to regulate interstate commerce and this included bays, harbors, and rivers. This reinforced the power of the federal government to intervene in economic interests. This ruling would also lead to the decision that the federal government had power to intervene in the integration of lunch counters and other business activities.

The third individual is Leonard Matlovich who was born in Savannah. Matlovich would become the first gay soldier to challenge the ban on gays in the military in 1975. He was discharged from the military when he came out. In 1980, a federal judge ordered the Air Force to reinstate Matlovich with back pay. The Air Force negotiated a settlement with Matlovich and the federal court's ruling was vacated when Matlovich agreed to drop the case in exchange for a tax-free payment of $160,000. Matlovich for the next twelve years would become, outside of Harvey Milk, the most iconic gay man in America. He died in 1988 of AIDS. On his tombstone are the following phrases 'A Gay Vietnam Veteran' and 'When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.' His test case helped to bring the decision of allowing openly gay persons in the military.

The fourth individual is Clarence Thomas. Thomas was appointed the second black justice to serve on the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan.  He was born and raised in Pin Point, a small community outside of Savannah. He went to Catholic schools in Savannah and used the black founded Carnegie Library on Henry Street. His appointment was controversial because of sexual harassment charges and ultra conservative views. He currently serves and has served since 1991. He is mostly known on the Court for his silence during oral arguments although he has written several conservative opinions.

The fifth is the author of a best-selling book about civil rights in McIntosh County called Praying for Sheetrock. It is written by Melissa Faye Greene and tells, from the perspective of the lawyers of Savannah’s Georgia Legal Services, about the struggles and triumphs of helping the Darien African American community claim their rights in the seventies. Although the black community are the heroes the fledging Georgia Legal Services of Savannah were there offering legal assistance. The book has been noted as one of the best journalism books of the twentieth century and is considered a classic.   

The last, Leah Sears, was born overseas in Heidelberg but grew up in Savannah and graduated from Savannah High School. She served as Chief Justice of the Georgia state Supreme Court from 2005- 2009. She was the first African American female state chief Justice in the United States. She was also the youngest to sit on the Georgia Supreme Court. Today she works for a prominent law firm in Atlanta and is occasionally mentioned as a possibility for the United State Supreme Court. Recently she was honored with a medallion celebrating Georgia women at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Arnold Hall.

These are some of the ways in which Savannah has contributed to the legal system in our United States. There are other ways such as the case of Mary Telfair’s will  brought before the Supreme Court, the Troy Davis death penalty case, the Jim Williams murder case that started the Book (you know of which book I refer) and readers could probably list some I do not know. But the point remains the same: Savannah continues to contribute to the larger world in ways we do not always recognize.

​PS Georgia Historical Society, how about a historical plaque to Leonard Matlovich and his contributions to the Gay Rights Movement? After all in a city that has had several prominent leaders who were gay it is about time to make room for the gay community in our history and public spaces.