Robert Nelson Cornelius Nix Jr. (July 13, 1928 – August 23, 2003) served as the chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court from 1984 to 1996. Nix was the first African-American Chief Justice of any state's highest court, and the first African American to be elected to statewide office in Pennsylvania.
Nix was a 1946 graduate of Central High School, where he graduated with the highest honors in his class; a 1950 graduate and valedictorian of Villanova University, where he received his A.B. degree;
He was also a postgraduate of Temple University for Business Administration and Economics.
Legal career
After graduating from law school, Nix spent 2 years serving in the United States Army before becoming a Deputy Attorney General in 1956. After two years in the Attorney General's Office he joined his father's law firm, Nix, Rhodes and Nix, as a partner, where he gained a reputation as a civil rights advocate. Lane was accused of collecting $2 to $20 fees for signing copies of charges that released people accused of crimes, a procedure that was supposed to be free or, if bail was required, cost a dollar. He was the first African American elected to statewide office in Pennsylvania history. He was the first African American state court Chief Justice in the United States. From 1991 to 1992 he served as President of the National Conference of Chief Justices.
On the high court, Justice Nix developed a reputation as a voice for individual rights. A champion of the broader rights accorded by the state constitution, Justice Nix led the court to interpret the Pennsylvania Constitution to ensure more individual rights than the U.S. Constitution, especially in the areas of search and seizure and sovereign immunity. Pope John Paul II inducted Nix as a Commander Knight in the Order of St. Gregory the Great.
Controversies
Justice Nix was involved in several high-profile controversies. In 1966, when running for election as a judge on the Philadelphia court of common pleas, Nix was criticized for continuing to be on his father's payroll as a congressional assistant, despite working as an attorney in private practice, and for collecting money each month from Congress in rent for his father's use of space in Nix's office. Larsen was investigated and exonerated by a judicial board of inquiry, Larsen in turn filed court documents accusing Nix of similar conduct. In announcing his retirement, Nix said, "It is time for me to walk away and smell the daisies." He indicated that he planned to travel and write, avocations he had put on hold.
There is a mural honoring Nix and his father at 15th and Jefferson Streets in Philadelphia.
See also
- List of African-American jurists