Robert Smith Vance was born on May 10, 1931, in Talladega, Alabama, as the youngest of four children to Harrell Taylor Vance Sr. and Mae Smith Vance. Growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, Vance attended Woodlawn High School before earning his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alabama in 1950 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1952.
During his time at the University of Alabama, Vance was reportedly the head of a secretive yet influential inter-fraternity organization known as The Machine, and he served as President of the Student Government Association.
After law school, Vance began his military service as an attorney in the United States Army Judge Advocate General Corps, where he was stationed at the Pentagon. One of his earliest assignments involved defending the Army against charges brought by Senator Joseph McCarthy during the infamous hearings of that era.
Following his military service, Vance obtained a Master of Laws from George Washington University Law School in 1955 and served as a law clerk to Alabama Supreme Court Justice James Mayfield. He briefly worked as an attorney for the United States Labor Department before entering private practice in Birmingham from 1956 to 1977.
As a lawyer, Vance became a strong advocate for civil rights. He notably participated as an intervening plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court case Reynolds v. Sims, which established the principle of "one person, one vote" in state legislative districts. Vance also distinguished himself as the first prominent Birmingham attorney to challenge the "gentleman's agreement" that systematically excluded black jurors from serving in civil cases.
From 1966 to 1977, Vance served as Chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party, a position he held during a tumultuous period in the state's political history. His election marked a victory for a faction of the party loyal to the national Democratic Party, which sought to wrest control from a states' rights group aligned with Governor George Wallace. Throughout his tenure, Vance successfully resisted Wallace's efforts to take control of the state party organization.
Vance's leadership was put to the test during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where competing slates of delegates vied for credentials. Vance's group ultimately prevailed over challenges from both Wallace's faction and a predominantly black slate led by Dr. John Cashin of Huntsville, Alabama.
In addition to his political work, Vance was a lecturer at the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University from 1967 to 1969. He also served in the United States Army Reserve, retiring as a lieutenant colonel.
Federal Judicial Service
On November 4, 1977, President Jimmy Carter nominated Vance to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, filling the seat vacated by Judge Walter Pettus Gewin. Vance was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 15, 1977, and he received his commission the same day. At the time, the Fifth Circuit's jurisdiction included six Southern states, including Alabama. When the circuit was divided in 1981, Vance was reassigned to the newly created United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, where he served until his death.
Assassination
On December 16, 1989, Robert S. Vance was tragically assassinated at his home in Mountain Brook, Alabama. He was killed instantly when he opened a package containing a mail bomb. His wife, Helen, was seriously injured in the explosion.
An extensive investigation led to the arrest and conviction of Walter Leroy Moody Jr., who was charged with the murders of both Judge Vance and Robert E. Robinson, a black civil rights attorney in Savannah, Georgia, who had been killed in a separate explosion. Moody was also responsible for mailing bombs that were defused at the Eleventh Circuit's headquarters in Atlanta and the Jacksonville office of the NAACP.
Moody had a history of violence; he had been convicted in 1972 for possessing a bomb that exploded in his home, injuring his first wife. Prosecutors speculated that Moody sought revenge against the Eleventh Circuit, which had previously refused to expunge his conviction, though Vance had not been part of the panel that reviewed Moody's case.
Moody was convicted of all charges and sentenced to seven federal life terms. An Alabama state-court jury later convicted him of Judge Vance's murder, and in 1997, Moody was sentenced to death by electric chair. He was executed by lethal injection on April 19, 2018, at the age of 83, making him the oldest inmate executed in the United States in the modern era.
Legacy
In 1990, Congress passed legislation renaming the federal building and courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama, as the Robert S. Vance Federal Building and United States Courthouse in his honor. The Atlanta chapter of the Federal Bar Association also hosts an annual Robert S. Vance Forum on the Bill of Rights in tribute to his service.
Vance's legacy lives on through his family. His son, Robert Vance Jr., serves as a state circuit court judge in Birmingham and was the Democratic candidate for Chief Justice of Alabama's Supreme Court in 2012. His daughter-in-law, Joyce White Vance, served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 2009 to 2017.
Helen Vance, his widow, passed away on October 18, 2010, at the age of 76. Her life, like her husband's, was marked by a dedication to public service and resilience in the face of tragedy.
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