MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2022 Regular Session
To: Rules
By: Representatives Gibbs (72nd), Banks, Brown (70th), Bell (65th), Clarke, Foster, Hines, Holloway, Johnson, Paden, Summers, Yates
A RESOLUTION COMMENDING AND CONGRATULATING FORMER MISSISSIPPI REPRESENTATIVE AND FORMER MISSISSIPPI SUPREME COURT JUSTICE HONORABLE FRED LEE BANKS, JR., ON THE OCCASION OF HIS RECEIPT OF THE PRESTIGIOUS "2021 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD" BY THE MISSISSIPPI BAR.
WHEREAS, we join The Mississippi Bar and the legal profession in honoring former Mississippi Representative and former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice, Honorable Fred Lee Banks, Jr., upon his receipt of the "2021 Lifetime Achievement Award" by The Mississippi Bar, recognizing his stellar legal and judicial career; and
WHEREAS, born on September 1, 1942, in the heart of the capital city, to Mr. Fred Lee Banks, Sr., and Mrs. Violet Mabery Banks, the 1960 Lanier High School graduate, attended Washington, D.C.'s premier historically black college and university, Howard University, where he received his bachelor of business administration before earning his Juris Doctor degree from the Howard University School of Law in 1968, finishing second in his class with cum laude honors; and
WHEREAS, in a zealous effort to uphold the sworn oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States as an officer of the judiciary, after gaining admission to the bar in Mississippi, Judge Banks entered into private practice with several other attorneys, Reuben Anderson, John A. Nichols and Melvyn R. Leventhal, to form the office that became the firm Anderson, Banks, Nichols and Leventhal, the State of Mississippi's first interracial law office, wherein he served as counsel for the Mississippi NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and, along with his partners, courageously fought segregation; and
WHEREAS, lifelong, childhood friends with his colleague and fellow jurist, Reuben Anderson, whose campaign for Jackson City Council he previously worked, Banks' aspirations to invoke meaningful political influence was birthed upon his 1975 election to the Mississippi House of Representatives, to which he was twice re-elected and faithfully discharged the duties of said office as Chair of the House Ethics Committee, Chair of a House Judiciary Committee and Chair of the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus, in addition to being appointed by the Governor to serve on the Mississippi Board of Bar Admissions, among a litany of other state and federal appointments, including his appointment to the National Advisory Council on the Education of Disadvantaged Children by President Jimmy Carter on September 24, 1979; and
WHEREAS, in February 1985, Representative Banks, whose esteemed legal career dedicated to civil rights and justice, as well as fulfilling the role as president/CEO of the Mississippi Center for Justice, experienced an official changing of the guard by virtue of gubernatorial elevation, when Governor William "Bill" Allain appointed him to the bench as a Circuit Judge for the 7th Circuit District, which encompassed Hinds and Yazoo Counties, to fill the unexpired term of his childhood friend, Reuben Anderson; and
WHEREAS, after six years on the Circuit Court bench, Judge Banks was once again vetted to follow the steps of his fifth-grade friend, former law partner, and predecessor to the judiciary when Governor Ray Mabus appointed him to the Supreme Court to fill the remainder of Justice Anderson's term in January 1991, to which he was officially elected to serve in November 1991, and re-elected in 1996 to a full term, wherein his capacity as a presiding justice he authored 612 opinions before permanently retiring his robe to the chamber and silencing his gavel on October 3, 2001; and
WHEREAS, post retirement from the bench as publicly elected official, Judge Banks served on the National Board of Directors of the NAACP, the Minority Advisory Committee to the University of Mississippi School of Law, the Board of Visitors at Mississippi College School of Law, and Chair of the Criminal Justice Task Force of the Mississippi Bar Association, before returning to the private sector of law practice as a senior partner at the firm of Phelps Dunbar, LLP, where he has continued his civil rights advocacy, and has been considered a wise voice of reason and consciousness as current Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Mississippi History; and
WHEREAS, one who has perfected his craft by honing his skills through practice and professional associations with like-minded individuals, Judge Banks' successes are undoubtedly attributable to his immense legal talent, but therein also lies his innate ability to exemplify dignity, civility, consummate professionalism and adherence to the "Golden Rule" in the most challenging of circumstances, and are further highlighted by the paramount accolades he has amassed throughout his storied career, which has honored the state and federal judiciary, The Mississippi Bar, the Mississippi House of Representatives and this great state that he loves and serves; and
WHEREAS, it is the policy of the House of Representatives to pay homage to an individual of Judge Banks' caliber, who, with intestinal fortitude, has served as a trailblazing pioneer, and whose contributions merit the same measure of recognition as his laudable career conveyed upon the State of Mississippi with honor and intrepid dignity:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, That we do hereby commend and congratulate former Mississippi Representative and former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice, Honorable Fred Lee Banks, Jr., on the occasion of his receipt of the prestigious "2021 Lifetime Achievement Award" by The Mississippi Bar and extend to him and his family our wishes for future success.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be furnished to the Honorable Fred Lee Banks, Jr., The Mississippi Bar and to the members of the Capitol Press Corps.