Judge who ordered school desegregation dies

RICHMOND, Va. – Robert R. Merhige Jr., a federal judge whose rulings forcing schools to desegregate made him so unpopular that for a time he required 24-hour protection, has died. He was 86.

Merhige died Friday at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center after undergoing open heart surgery days earlier, his son, Mark R. Merhige, said Saturday.

Named to the federal bench in 1967 by President Lyndon Johnson, Merhige ordered dozens of Virginia’s school systems to desegregate.

After a 1972 decision to consolidate public school systems in Richmond and neighboring counties for the sake of integration, his dog was shot to death, and a guest cottage on his property was destroyed by arson.

Last year, Merhige told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that he was still amazed, disappointed and angry at the public reaction to his rulings.

“I thought people would say, ‘We don’t like the little S.O.B., but he’s following the law,’ ” he said. “That didn’t happen.”

The consolidation order was reversed on appeal and made its way to the Supreme Court. In 1973, the high court deadlocked 4-4 on the case, which ended the consolidation effort.

Merhige also ruled in 1968 that the conflict in Vietnam was a war, whether or not it was a declared war. That ruling came in a case in which 96 Army reservists tried to avoid serving in Vietnam. Merhige denied their request.

He retired in 1998 and joined the law firm of Hunton & Williams in Richmond.