TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Mar 24, 2021

A bill that would strike the name of the late Clifford Davis from Memphis's downtown federal building passed the U.S. House of Representatives’ Transportation Committee today, the Commercial Appeal reports. The bill, sponsored by Memphis Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen, would keep the other name on the building, that of Odell Horton, the state’s first Black federal judge following the Reconstruction Era. Cohen spoke to the committee about Davis's racist past, noting that had been a strong proponent of Jim Crow laws and a member of the Ku Klux Klan. The bill now goes to the House floor for a vote.