By Dan
Adkins
Federal Appeals Judge Pierce
Lively was recognized for his intellect, integrity and the clarity of his written
opinions.
Lively will receive his award
prior to a special lecture by historian David Eisenhower. For more information, click here. |
March
10, 2000 – (Lexington, Ky.) – U.S.
Appeals Court Judge Pierce Lively has been named the recipient of the University of
Kentucky Libraries Medallion for Intellectual Achievement.
The award, presented by the 2000 UK Library Associates, was created to
recognize high intellectual achievement in Kentucky or by Kentuckians, and to encourage
education and the free and creative use of the mind by the citizens of the commonwealth. Lively,
78, of Louisville, served on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati from 1972
until his retirement in 1997. He served as
the court’s chief judge from 1983 to 1988 and as its senior judge from 1988 until his
retirement.
Lively was nominated to the court by then-President Nixon. At his Senate confirmation hearings, colleagues
praised him for his intellect and integrity. During
his tenure on the court, colleagues, clerks and lawyers who came before the court
recognized the clarity of his decisions. A
former clerk, Joanne C. Brant, now a professor at the Pettit School of Law at Ohio
Northern University, said, “(Lively) brought to the court a quiet dignity and a
passion for precise reasoning and clear writing… His opinions are models of legal
reasoning that have had enormous impact on American law.”
Among
the cases he heard was a school textbook controversy in Tennessee, in which a group of
fundamentalist Christian parents protested that their rights were violated when a local
school system included “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “The Wizard of Oz”
as required reading. Lively and the Appeals
Court ruled that simply requiring the students to read and discuss a text did not force
them to believe what they read. The full text
of Lively’s opinion received national news coverage.
Lively
will receive the medallion at the UK Library Associates annual dinner at 6:30 p.m. Monday,
March 27, at the Singletary Center for the Arts. Tickets
for a 5:30 p.m. reception, the dinner and the Edward F Prichard Jr. Lecture by historian
David Eisenhower are $50. For more
information, contact Esther Edwards at (606) 257-0500, ext. 2084.
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