Robert R. Merhige Jr. (February 5, 1919–February 18, 2005), was a federal judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia who is known for his rulings on desegregation in the 1970s.
Merhige flew many missions in B-17 bombers while serving in the United States Army during World War II.[1]
Born in New York City, Merhige attended High Point College in North Carolina and received a LL.B. from the University of Richmond, T.C. Williams School of Law in 1942. He received a LL.M. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1982. He served in the Army Air Forces from 1942 to 1945, in World War II.
Merhige was in private practice in Richmond, Virginia from 1945 to 1967. He was a law teacher, Smithdeal-Massey School of Law from 1945 to 1948. He was a vice president and general counsel, Crass Coca-Cola Bottling Company from 1952 to 1955. He was a lecturer at the University of Virginia from 1968 to 1972. Merhige was an adjunct professor at the University of Richmond T.C. Williams School of Law from 1973 to 1976.
On July 17, 1967, Merhige was appointed as a federal judge by President Lyndon B. Johnson to a seat vacated by John D. Butzner, Jr.. On August 18, 1967, the United States Senate confirmed the appointment, and Merhige received his commission on August 25, 1967. Merhige ordered dozens of Virginia's school systems to desegregate.
Merhige authored the ruling of a panel of three judges throwing out the appeals of Watergate criminals G. Gordon Liddy, Bernard Barker and Eugenio Martinez and upholding their criminal convictions.[2]
In 1970 Merhige ordered that the University of Virginia must admit women. in 1970. He clarified the rights of pregnant women to keep their jobs.
Merhige presided over the Greensboro massacre trials of members of the Ku Klux Klan and American Nazi Party members.[3]
In January 1972 Merhige ruled that students in Henrico and Chesterfield counties in Virginia would have to be bused to the Richmond city schools in order to decrease the high percentage of black students in Richmond's schools. The ruling led to alarm and vocal opposition nationally and criticism of Judge Merhige personally as his own children were enrolled in private school and thus unaffected by his order. Merhige's order in that case was overturned on appeal on June 6, 1972 but not before influencing that year's presidential primary in Florida.[4]
Merhige also ruled in 1968 that the conflict in Vietnam was a war, whether or not it was a declared war.[5]
Merhige assumed senior status on November 30, 1986 and retired June 8, 1998, joining the law firm of Hunton & Williams in Richmond, Virginia.
Merhige died on February 18, 2005 at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia after undergoing open heart surgery.[6]