Tuesday night former Chief Justice A.A. Birch will be remembered in a service at Nashville’s War Memorial Auditorium. Attorneys and community members like Tyree Bowers paid their respects at the Metro Courthouse Tuesday afternoon.
“He did break down some color barriers, but before all of that, I remember the involvement he had in the community.”
More than 30 years ago, Bowers was trying to get a youth organization going and Justice Birch became a regular guest and allowed the group to use his courtroom for meetings.
Justice Birch was known for being tough on crime, and retired attorney Steve Cobb says he saw that first hand when he argued on behalf of a client for a treatment plan instead of jail time.
“Finally, Judge Birch says, ‘sounds to me like a great program. I very much hope he participates in it…after he finishes his sentence,’ and bam. That was my one criminal case in life.”
That was in the 70’s. Justice Birch would go on to become the first black chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court, and the only person to serve at every level of the state judiciary.
Justice Birch died from cancer last week at age 78.
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