Julius Chambers (1936-2013)

Julius Chambers, a civil rights hero who went 8 for 8 arguing cases before the Supreme Court, including the landmark employment discrimination case Griggs v. Duke Power, has passed away. (What a different age when civil rights suits actually stood some chance of success!) And when I say “hero,” I’m not using the term lightly:

The N.C. chapter of the NAACP called Chambers ‘‘a man of tremendous courage.’’

‘‘His home and his car were firebombed on separate occasions in 1965, and his office was burned to the ground in 1971, during the height of some of his most contentious civil rights litigation in North Carolina,’’ the NAACP said in a statement. ‘‘When he spoke of these events, Mr. Chambers was typically matter-of-fact, insisting always that you ‘just keep fighting.’’’

N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper called Chambers ‘‘a friend who set a courageous example of doing what is right regardless of the cost.’’

R.I.P.