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C. Clyde Atkins

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(1914-1999)

C. Clyde Atkins
The Honorable C. Clyde Atkins was known as a champion of civil rights and a defender for those who were less fortunate as well as a passionate supporter of the legal justice system. His achievements in this arena included advocating for the rights of the homeless, upholding the rights of Cuban and Haitian refugees to lodge petitions in U.S. courts, and working for the desegregation of public schools.

Atkins’s academic career began at the University of Florida, where he earned a degree in law in 1936.

While in law school, Atkins was an active member of the varsity debate team, where he was on the Executive Council. Atkins also was an active member in the John Marshall Society and Phi Kappa Tau national fraternity, and served as vice-justice for the national legal fraternity, Phi Alpha Delta. His hard work and commanding leadership did not go unnoticed, and earned him entry into Florida Blue Key in 1935.

After graduating from UF Law, Atkins headed back to south Florida to begin his legal career in Stuart. In 1941, he joined law school classmate Bill Lantaff (JD 36) at Casey & Walton in Miami, where he worked for the next 25 years and became a name partner. Practicing as an active trial lawyer in the areas of corporate, real estate, railroad and insurance gave him the foundation for his unprecedented 33-year career as a federal judge.

Atkins was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson as the judge of the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida and served as the chief judge of the district from 1977 to 1982. President Jimmy Carter recognized his willingness to serve others by appointing him to the National Commission for the Review of Antitrust Laws and Procedures from 1978 to 1979.

Atkins presided over thousands of cases and was known by many for his astute judgment, fairness, impartiality and commitment to the law.

“If he’s convinced it’s guaranteed by the Constitution, he is fearless,” Chesterfield Smith (JD 48) once said of Atkins’s commitment to law. “He doesn’t care if it’s unpopular. He’ll stand alone.”

Some of his most publicized cases included presiding over the desegregation of Dade County schools beginning in 1969 and continuing jurisdiction for over 25 years; a ruling allowing Allen Ginsberg, a poet who was denied his freedom of expression when the chief of police turned off his microphone, to be given another reading free of charge; the action brought by the Justice Department seeking to prevent Florida Power & Light from building the Turkey Point nuclear power plant in Dade County; and a wildcat machinist strike at National Airlines where he refused to reinstate striking machinists after they disobeyed his injunction to return to work to allow the airline to resume operations. Atkins also presided over serious drug cases that earned his district court a national reputation as one of the finest in the 1970s.

In the 1990s, Atkins ruled against both the H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations’ policies to repatriate Cuban and Haitian refugees housed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He issued several injunctions against the policies, stating the government must allow the refugees proper legal counsel and follow correct procedures. The government won the appeals in the 11th Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court, with Judge Joseph Hatchett and Justice Thurgood Marshall dissenting in Atkins favor.

In 1992, he ruled on arguably his most influential case involving the homeless in Miami. He ordered the creation of “safe zones” for the area’s homeless to congregate without the threat of police arrest. Much of the nation’s subsequent attitude to rehabilitate the homeless through training and the creation of shelters was influenced by this decision.

Atkins assumed senior status as the district’s senior judge on December 31, 1982. In his senior status, Atkins maintained a 70 percent caseload by accepting 50 percent random assignment of cases at the district level. Ten days before his death, Atkins was still signing court orders.

Over his illustrious career, Atkins has received numerous public service awards including being named as a Knight of St. Gregory by Pope Paul VI, having the University of Miami’s Moot Court named in his behalf, and being honored with the National Conference for Community and Justice Distinguished Community Service Award.

Atkins passed away on March 11, 1999, and is survived by his wife Esther; daughter Julie Atkins Landrigan; and grandchildren Thomas Schulte Jr., Carl Schulte, Carl Atkins, Juliette Atkins Wood, Julie-Anne Schulte Wohlberg, Gregory Landrigan, and Ashley Atkins. Two children, Carla Atkins Schulte and Carl Clyde Atkins, and one granddaughter, Mary Margaret Schulte, predeceased him.

Published: June 27th, 2014

Category: Alumni

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The Florida Constitutional Law Endowment in memory of Justice Ben F. Overton was created by Judge Karen Miller in 2013. This fund supports lectures and presentations by Justices of the Florida Supreme Court at the Fredric G. Levin College of Law.

HISTORY

Justice Overton, who earned his B.S. in 1951 and his Juris Doctor in 1952 from the University of Florida, was the first merit appointment to the Florida Supreme Court. Throughout his career he was active in legal education and served as an Adjunct Professor at the Levin College of Law through December 2012, the month of his death. Although he resided at Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, a continuing care retirement community developed in cooperation with UF, he also considered the Florida Supreme Court “home.” Among the high points of his later years was hosting Justices of the Florida Supreme Court in Gainesville and taking his class to Tallahassee to hear oral arguments at the Florida Supreme Court.
Judge Miller, who earned her B.S. cum laude from New York University in 1974 and her Juris Doctor from New York Law School in 1977, served as Chief Administrative Law Judge of the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, New York City’s business regulatory agency, before she retired to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida. Having accompanied Justice Overton on his excursions to Tallahassee and joined him in welcoming guests to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, she created the endowment in memory of Justice Overton to ensure that the Levin College of Law continues to have the funding necessary to continue and enhance the interaction between its students and the Florida Supreme Court.

 

Judge Miller remembered the event that motivated the endowment.

 

Prior to a dinner at the home of Dean Robert Jerry and Lisa Jerry shortly after Justice Overton’s death, Justice Barbara Pariente and I were discussing a suitable memorial. Justice Pariente, who had been Justice Overton’s colleague on the Florida Supreme Court and who understood the importance to him of the interaction between his students and the Court, suggested the outline of what has become the Overton lectures. Dean Jerry, who has since retired, as has Dean Emeritus Jon Mills, who assumed responsibility for implementing the Overton lectures, were very supportive from the beginning. Since Dean Mills’ retirement, Professor Timothy McClendon, who assisted both Justice Overton and Dean Mills teaching Florida Constitutional Law and who co-authored the recent Florida Constitutional Law casebook, has continued the Overton lectures with the support of Interim Dean Merritt McAlister and CGR director, Professor Danaya Wright.

Justice Overton was a devoted jurist, educator, and ethical leader of the Florida legal profession. The Overton Lecture Series brings Florida Supreme Court Justices to the University of Florida, Levin College of Law, and serves to introduce students to the inner workings of the Court. CGR and the students of the College of Law extend our deepest gratitude to Judge Karen Miller for making the Overton Lectures possible in perpetuity.

You can watch an interview for the Florida Historical Society by Mary Adkins, professor emeritus of the UF Levin College of Law, with Justice Overton here.

Justice Overton was also interviewed for the Samuel Proctor Oral History Project and a transcript of his interview is available at the Smathers Library, and here.
Justice Overton sat on the Constitution Revision Commission of 1977-78 that proposed a right to privacy in the Florida Constitution. Although it failed as part of the Constitution Revision Commission recommendations, it passed in 1980 when proposed by the legislature. The bill was co-sponsored by our very own Jon Mills. The privacy provision prevailed by greater than 60%. Justice Overton then wrote a concurrence in a critical reproductive rights case in 1989 affirming that the privacy provision of the Florida Constitution included the right to obtain an abortion. That decision was overruled in Planned Parenthood of SW and Central Florida v. Florida. You can read about the role of Justice Overton, Jon Mills – director emeritus of CGR, and the history of the 1989 case here.