John Paul, Jr.

John Paul Jr. (December 9, 1883 – February 13, 1964) was Virginia lawyer and farmer who served in the Virginia Senate and United States House of Representatives, before becoming a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, and serving as Chief Judge during the Byrd Organization's Massive Resistance to the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions in Brown v. Board of Education.

Early life and education Born on December 9, 1883, in Harrisonburg, Rockingham County, Virginia, Paul attended both private and public schools. Although his father, John Paul, had been a twice wounded Confederate cavalry officer during the American Civil War, he had received a pardon, then won election to the Virginia senate as a Conservative and later Re-Adjuster. The elder John Paul then served in the U.S.Congress before becoming United States District Judge for the Western District of Virginia. Meanwhile, the younger John Paul received an education locally, then traveled to Lexington for further studies at the Virginia Military Institute and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1903 despite his father's death in 1901. Paul helped support his family by teaching at VMI in 1903 and 1904. Paul then traveled to Charlottesville for legal training, and earned a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1906 from University of Virginia School of Law.

World War I officer The VMI graduate served in the United States Army during World War I, from May 1918 until May 1919. He rose to the rank of major in the American Expeditionary Forces, leading the Three Hundred and Thirteenth Field Artillery of the One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Field Artillery Brigade.

U.S. Congress

In 1922, Paul successfully contested the election of Thomas W. Harrison to the United States House of Representatives of the 67th United States Congress and served from December 15, 1922, to March 3, 1923.

Notable cases In December 1934, Paul sat on a 3-judge panel with John J. Parker and William C. Coleman and wrote one of the two key legal decisions which permitted creation of Shenandoah National Park. Although plaintiff/appellant Robert H. Via (whose Huguenot ancestor had emigrated to Virginia in 1685) argued that Virginia could not use its eminent domain powers to condemn land to give to the United States to create the park, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the decision in 'Via v. The State Commission on Conservation and Development of the State of Virginia'.

Paul also presided over the 50-day trial of the Franklin County moonshine conspiracy, said to be the longest trial in Virginia history to that time.

To Paul and his colleagues fell the task of implementing the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education in desegregation lawsuits in the Western District of Virginia. In August 1956, Paul issued a historic ruling ordering the desegregation of the Charlottesville public schools, and which soon set off Massive Resistance as by-now-United States Senator Harry Byrd vehemently disagreed with the United States Supreme Court ruling, and state officials obstructed its implementation. Paul also sat on the 3-judge panel that ordered the integration of the graduate schools of the University of Virginia in the Gregory Swanson case. He also ordered the desegregation of the schools in Warren County in 1958 and Grayson County in 1960.

Death and legacy

In 1958, Chief Judge Paul took senior status (allowing President Eisenhower to fill his former seat), but continued to serve as a federal judge with a reduced workload until his death. In 1961, Paul donated part of his family's farm to become the Paul State Forest. On February 13, 1964, Judge Paul died at Ottobine, Rockingham County, Virginia.