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Rod Nachman

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Merton Roland "Rod" Nachman Jr (1923-2015) was the lawyer for the plaintiff in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan.[1][2] He is best known for that case, which he lost, although he had actually appeared before the Supreme Court of the United States a decade earlier (in 1951 when he was just 27) where he won.[3][2] After his death, Montgomery Advertiser journalist Coke Ellington recalled his often saying that "The greatest thing I ever did for the Advertiser was to lose that case.".[2][4] Later in life he was to often express the sentiment, reported by his family in his obituary that he "would rather be famous for a case he won rather than one he lost".[4]

Biography

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Nachman's German Jewish family ran a department store in Montgomery, Alabama, named Nachman and Mertief.[5] He was born in Montgomery on 1923-12-21,[6] graduated from the local Sidney Lanier High School, and attended Harvard University for two years, when he broke off to enlist in the United States Navy during World War 2.[7] After a 3-year stint, which included being an intelligence officer in Hawaii, he returned to Harvard, graduating from its Law School after a further two years, in 1948.[3][6]

After graduating, he worked as an assistant attorney general back in Montgomery, where he was to live in a Tudor-style house with his wife, Louise.[3] His case before the Supreme Count was a railroad rate case where he represented the Alabama Public Service Commission.[2] At the time, the Supreme Court had rules about the minimum requirements for attorneys who appeared before it, which Nachman did not meet, but those rules were ignored, to the annoyance of Justice Felix Frankfurter.[2]

He left government service in 1954 for a private law practice in partnership with another attorney, Walter Knabe.[3] In 1956 he worked as an assistant to John Sparkman, in Washington, D.C., returning again to Montgomery in 1959 to work at the law firm of Steiner, Crum, and Baker, which was considered one of the most prestigious firms in the city, representing railway companies, newspapers, and banks.[3][6]

One of the cases that Nachman represented in particular was a libel suit that he won, the plaintiff awarded US$67,500 (equivalent to $732,263 in 2023) by a jury (later reduced to US$45,000 (equivalent to $488,175 in 2023) on appeal), on behalf of Edward Davis, reported in the news for being charged (but later acquitted) for assaulting Ralph Abernathy but incorrectly identified by Jet magazine as also the same as a Davis who was a teacher who had been fired for making sexual advances on his students.[8][9]

By 1960 Nachman had a good reputation as a libel lawyer in both the city and the state.[10] Another case that had led to that was another libel suit in 1956 that was settled in his client's favour, the defendant paying US$15,000 (equivalent to $168,103 in 2023).[11] Ken For Men magazine had published a story headlined "Kimono Girls Check in Again" supposedly about corruption and gambling in the city.[11] Acting for city commissioners William A. Gayle, Clyde Sellers, and Frank Parks, Nachman showed that the writer had entirely fabricated the story, never actually having visited Montgomery, and that the magazine had, knowing this, published it anyway.[11][12]

Before and after NYT v. Sullivan, Nachman also worked as the general counsel for the Montgomery Advertiser.[2][13] He was a president of the Alabama State Bar Association from 1973 to 1974, and a friend of Frank M. Johnson.[14][6] He was a director of the American Judicature Society; a member of the American Bar Association Board of Governors (where he was particularly active), of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, and the American Law Institute; and a chairman of the Alabama Supreme Court Advisory Committee.[15]

He was also the court appointed chairman of the Alabama prison system's Human Rights Committee, established in 1983 by Judge Johnson.[15][13] Nachman advised the selection of his fellow committee members, E. M. Friend Jr, Thomas Thagard, and Laurie Mandell, and of the committee's consultant George Beto.[13]

In 1977 Nachman was on the shortlist, drawn up by a panel of citizens, of candidates for a vacancy that had appeared in the 5th Circuit Appeals Court, alongside fellow Montgomery lawyer Truman Hobbs, Robert Smith Vance, and Pat Richardson from Huntsville.[16] President Jimmy Carter decided to nominate Vance.[16]

He died in Montgomery on 2015-11-24,[6] survived by four daughters, his relatives stating in his obituary that he was known "for his quick wit, keen intelligence, generous and caring nature and love of Bombay Blue Sapphire gin".[1][15]

Bibliography

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  • Nachman, M. Roland (October 1972). "Alabama's Breakthrough for Reform". Judicature. 56. OCLC 4769294442.

    — Nachman gives an account of the attempts to reform the Alabama judicial system from 1966 to 1971 that included a failed constitutional amendment and resulted in greater powers to reassign judges and a department of court management.[17]

References

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  1. ^ a b AP 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Ellington 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e Barbas 2023, p. 67.
  4. ^ a b Barbas 2023, p. 216.
  5. ^ Barbas 2023, p. 66.
  6. ^ a b c d e ASB 2016, p. 4.
  7. ^ Barbas 2023, pp. 66–67.
  8. ^ Barbas 2023, pp. 67–68.
  9. ^ Hall & Urofsky 2011, p. 25.
  10. ^ Hall & Urofsky 2011, p. 26.
  11. ^ a b c Hall & Urofsky 2011, pp. 25–26.
  12. ^ Hall 1991, p. 9,12.
  13. ^ a b c Yackle 1989, p. 110.
  14. ^ Bass 2002, p. 127.
  15. ^ a b c ASB 2016, p. 5.
  16. ^ a b Jenkins 2012, pp. 137–138.
  17. ^ Carbon & Berkson 1978, p. 17.

Sources

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Further reading

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