Clarence Mullins

Clarence Hadden Mullins Sr (born March 16, 1895 in Clanton; died June 30, 1957 in Mountain Brook) was an attorney and judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. He is notable for having issued a series of rulings in the 1940s overturning segregated housing and zoning ordinances.

Mullins was the son of Clement and Lela Dawson Mullins of Chilton County. He earned his bachelor of laws from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1914 and went into private practice in Birmingham. In 1935 he represented New York Yankees outfielder Ben Chapman in a divorce suit brought by his wife, Mary Elizabeth, who accused him of domestic violence. He was hired as an assistant Birmingham City Attorney and later as an assistant County Attorney for Jefferson County.

On March 19, 1943 President Franklin Roosevelt nominated Mullins to the newly-created United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 7 and commissioned on April 16. The court made him its first Chief Judge when that position was created in 1948.

In Matthews v. City of Birmingham (1947) Mullins ruled that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibited the City of Birmingham from denying an occupancy permit to Samuel Matthews for his home, which had been constructed with a valid building permit and passed inspection, solely because he was Black. Within three weeks of the ruling, Matthews' home was destroyed by a bomb. Matthews reported the crime to police, but, like many that followed, it remained unsolved.

In Monk v. City of Birmingham (1949) Mullins struck down a slate of newly-passed segregation ordinances which made it a crime for a Black person to build or occupy a home in a predominantly-white neighborhood, and vice-versa. The ruling was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in 1951. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider an appeal.

In 1950 Mullins ruled that the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad and Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen could not use race to determine eligibility for promotion.

Facing disability due to illness, Mullins was granted senior status on the court on May 31, 1953. He held that status until his death in 1957. He is buried at Elmwood Cemetery.

Preceded by: [seat created)	Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama 1943–1953	Succeeded by: Harlan Grooms
Preceded by: (seat created)	Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama 1948–1953	Succeeded by: Seybourn Lynne

References

• Eskew, Glenn T. (1997) But for Birmingham: The Local and National Movements in the Civil Rights Struggle. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0807846678

• Thornton, J. Mills (2002) "Dividing Lines: Municipal Politics and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma" Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 9780817311704
• "Clarence H. Mullins" (March 20, 2023) Wikipedia - accessed February 14, 2024