Word: heflinism
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...other Senate race, former Alabama Chief Justice Howell Heflin, 57, who remodeled the state court system, took 65% of the vote, swamping Congressman Walter Flowers, 45, whose courtly eloquence was a highlight of the Nixon impeachment proceedings in the House. While Flowers campaigned as an insider who knew his way around the nation's capital, Heflin berated him for being "part of the Washington crowd that has brought more inflation and higher taxes." Heflin, on the other hand, owed a debt to another Washingtonian. His campaign slogan was the same as Nixon's in 1972: "Now More Than...
Stepping Down. A successful trial and personal injury practice led Heflin to the presidency of the Alabama bar in 1965, and he turned that social club into a lobby for reform. In 1970, when an archsegregationist became the top candidate for chief justice, Heflin decided to take him on. "There was a feeling someone else ought to run," he recalls mildly. He won by a 2-to-l margin. And while the Heflin court has hardly become the most liberal in the country, one local civil rights lawyer says that as of now, "I'd rather take my chances...
...chief justice's achievements have stirred some resentment. Gripes longtime Court Clerk Fred Posey: "I don't need the Great White Father Heflin telling me how to run things." But Steve Suitts, state director of the American Civil Liberties Union, is closer to general Alabama sentiment: "Judge Heflin is one of the few people in this state about whom my grandmother, my mother and I all agree." Heflin has chosen to step down from office when his term expires in January, and many expect him to run for Governor or the U.S. Senate within the next few years...
Meanwhile, he continues with his innovations. This fall, to increase public understanding of the law, he will convene the supreme court in two high schools and hear actual cases. Back in Montgomery, Heflin plans to let TV cameras into his courtroom...
Last month Heflin became chairman of the Conference of Chief Justices. Naturally, he will spend much of his year in office spreading the word to the rest of the U.S. about the lessons in court reform it can learn from Alabama...