Seals, Woodrow Bradley

Judge Woodrow Bradley Seals was born on December 24, 1917 in Bogalusa, Louisiana. He married Daisy Newman in 1942 and had one son, Bradley. He served as a pilot in Europe during World War II and retired as Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force Reserve. Judge Seals received his Juris Doctorate Degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 1949; that year he moved to Houston and began practicing law. During the 1950's he was Harris County Democratic Chairman, and served as John F. Kennedy's campaign manager in 1960. He was active in the State Bar of Texas, where he was chairman of the Committee on Criminal Law and Procedure, a member of the Grievance Committee, Prosecuting Committee and Committee on Professional Ethics. As United States Attorney he hired the first African-American secretary in a U.S. Attorney's Office in Texas and the first African-American Assistant U.S. Attorney and was known for his courageous rulings, in particular on student's rights and desegregation and the education of alien children.

In 1961 Judge Seals was nominated by Senator Ralph Yarborough and appointed by President Kennedy as United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, and in 1966 was appointed to the federal bench as United States District Judge by President Johnson. In 1982, at age 65, he took senior status but remained on the bench with a reduced caseload. He died in Houston on October 27, 1990.

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