C. Clyde Atkins

Carl Clyde Atkins (November 23, 1914 – March 11, 1999) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Education and career

Born November 23, 1914, in Washington, D.C., Atkins received a Bachelor of Laws in 1936 from the Fredric G. Levin College of Law at the University of Florida. He entered private practice in Stuart, Florida from 1936 to 1941. He practiced law in Miami, Florida from 1941 to 1966.

Federal judicial service

Atkins was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson on June 28, 1966, to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, to a new seat authorized by 80 Stat. 75. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 22, 1966, and received his commission on July 22, 1966. He served as Chief Judge from 1977 to 1982. He assumed senior status on December 31, 1982. His service terminated on March 11, 1999, due to his death in Miami. In 1970, he ruled on a famous case involving the poet Allen Ginsberg after someone shut off Ginsberg's microphone during a public reading. Atkins ruled that Ginsberg should be given another reading, free of charge.

Among the many important cases in a long and distinguished career, Atkins issued landmark rulings protecting the constitutional rights of homeless people in Pottinger v. City of Miami, as well as major rulings in other cases involving the rights of Haitian and Cuban refugees.