http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/799649805

Then to the rock let me fly Luther Bohanon and judicial activism

U.S. District Judge Luther Bohanon of Oklahoma has had perhaps more effect on the state, and on the nation, than any other member of a state's judiciary. Biographies of Supreme Court justices are numerous, but this book is among the few that focus on federal district court judges-magistrates who, being closest to the people, are most likely to affect their daily lives. During his long career as an attorney, Bohanon exposed corruption in the Oklahoma State Supreme Court and, in a landmark case, helped establish the right of American Indians to sue for compensation for lands taken from them. In 1961, Oklahoma's powerful Senator Robert S. Kerr recommended Bohanon for appointment to the federal bench, and although the appointment was clouded by conflict with Attorney General Robert Kennedy, it was approved by President John Kennedy. Since then Bohanon has presided over some of the state's most controversial and important cases - cases touching on many civil liberties and other fundamental rights. Almost immediately upon taking the bench, Judge Bohanon mandated integration of the Oklahoma City public schools, a plan of unprecedented magnitude that earned him much enmity. His enforced reform of Oklahoma's prison system also was unpopular. Nor did his decisions affect the state alone: he took on the federal government itself when he enjoined the Food and Drug Administration from prohibiting terminally ill cancer patients from importing the unproven drug laetrile. This biography reveals Judge Bohanon as one of the most creative, energetic, and faithful federal judges ever to occupy the bench. His story will appeal to students of the law, the Constitution, and the federal judiciary and to anyone interested in Oklahoma history and civil rights.

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