Review of Then to the Rock Let Me Fly: Luther Bohanon and Judicial Activism By Jace Weaver

Authors

Gordon Morris Bakken, California State University - Fullerton

Date of this Version

1995

Document Type

Article

Comments

Published in Great Plains Quarterly 15:1 (Winter 1995). Copyright © 1995 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Abstract

This is a sympathetic biography of one of Oklahoma's distinguished members of the federal bench. The author chronicles Luther Bohanon's transition from the bar to the judiciary in a well-crafted narrative. On the federal trial bench, Bohanon exhibited a tenacious adherence to a liberal view of the United States Constitution. To flesh out this view of the Constitution, the author focuses upon three celebrated cases. For legal historians, this book may seem limited in its coverage, but for historians of Oklahoma it provides a close look at some of the important events of the civil rights struggle.