SOUTHERN JUSTICE

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Your signed editorial, The Fortas Reflex (October 7), in its discussion of Judge Homer Thornberry is inaccurate and reflects either Mr. Bryson's innocence or ignorance of "where it is at" in the South. At the time Judge Thornberry was nominated to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights investigated his Congressional record, found that he consistently supported liberal legislation, and therefore approved his nomination while opposing Governor Coleman's.

During the years that Judge Thornberry has sat on the Fifth Circuit, the undersigned was a full-time civil rights lawyer in the South and it has been my privilege to appear before him on many occasions. I have also read every civil rights decision that he has written or participated in. Judge Thornberry was not and is not a "moderate by contrast with his peers" on that bench. He, together with Judges Tuttle, Wisdom and Brown form the liberal heart of the best federal appellate court in the country.

He would have been a more progessive member of the Supreme Court than Mr. Justice Fortas. Alvin J. Bronstein   Fellow, Institute of Politics   Formerly, Chief Staff Counsel,   Lawyers Constitutional   Defense Committee