Born: July 26, 1916
Richmond, Virginia

Died: October 11, 1998
Richmond, Virginia

Spottswood William Robinson III

Judge, U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia
Received a recess appointment from Lyndon B. Johnson on January 6, 1964, to a seat vacated by James W. Morris; nominated to the same position by Lyndon B. Johnson on February 3, 1964; Confirmed by the Senate on July 1, 1964, and received commission on July 2, 1964. Service terminated on November 8, 1966, due to appointment to another judicial position.

Judge, U. S. Court of Appeals for District of Columbia Circuit
Nominated by Lyndon B. Johnson on October 6, 1966, to a seat vacated by George T. Washington; Confirmed by the Senate on October 20, 1966, and received commission on November 3, 1966. Served as chief judge, 1981-1986. Assumed senior status on September 1, 1989. Service terminated on October 11, 1998, due to death.

Howard University, LL.B., 1939

Portrait Ceremony
Transcript of ceremony: June 9, 1989

Frame Dimensions
Oil on canvas 42 X 34″

Artist
Simmie Knox (1935 – ) A native of Washington, D.C., Simmie Knox graduated from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia and has specialized in portraits since 1981. Mr. Knox exhibited as an abstract artist and worked for the Museum of African Art in Washington D.C. during the 1970s. His abstract art was displayed in the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. in 1971.

After years of painting abstract and other art forms, Mr. Knox turned full time to portraiture. His commissions feature entertainers, educators, military officers, judges, and private individuals and include Justice Thurgood Marshall in 1989, Senator Verda Welcome in 1990, Senator Herman Holloway in 1995, and Muhammad Ali in 1995. Perhaps Knox’s most notable commission was to paint the official Portrait of President Bill and First Lady Hillary Clinton, unveiled in 2004.

Mr. Knox’s work is exhibited in the White House, the U.S. Senate, in courthouses, schools, museums, and private collections across the country.

Year Painted
1988

Professional Career:

Faculty, Howard University School of Law, 1939-1948
Private practice, Richmond, Virginia, 1943-1960
Counsel / representative, Virginia NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, 1948-1950
Southeast regional counsel, NAACP, 1951-1960
Professor / dean, Howard University School of Law, 1960-1963
U.S. Commission of Civil Rights, 1961-1963

Yale University Sterling Memorial Library, New Haven, Conn.

  • Brown vs. Board of Education collection, 1950-1975; 8.5 linear ft.; finding aid; represented.
Judges of the D.C. Circuit Courts