Federal Judiciary and Private Practice
In 1979, at the age of 37, McDonald was appointed to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas by President Jimmy Carter. She was the first African-American to be appointed to the federal bench in Texas and only the third African-American woman federal judge in the country. During her tenure on the bench, Judge McDonald ruled on a number of high-profile cases. One of these cases involved Vietnamese shrimpers and the Ku Klux Klan. In that case, the Grand Dragon of the Klan attempted to disqualify her from the case, arguing that the fact she was African American would prevent her from being impartial. She refused to step down, stating, in 1984, “ . . . if my race is enough to disqualify me from hearing this case, then I must disqualify myself as well from a substantial portion of cases on my docket . . . an action that would cripple my efforts to fulfill my oath as a federal judge.” As she told the Grand Dragon during the highly publicized hearing in a courtroom that included robed Klansmen, “You are not entitled to a judge of your choosing but one who will be fair. And I will do that.” At the time, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Daniel Hedges praised her for “not permitting her civil rights background to cloud her judgment as a federal judge. She was always evenhanded.”
After resigning from the bench in 1988, Judge McDonald joined the law firm of Matthes & Granscomb and in 1992, became counsel to Walker & Satterhwaite. She also served as Special Counsel to the Chairman on Human Rights for Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, Inc.
Read more about this topic: Gabrielle Kirk Mc Donald
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