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Sam C. Pointer Jr.

Sam Clyde Pointer Jr. (November 15, 1934 – March 15, 2008) was an attorney in Birmingham, Alabama and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama from 1970 to 2000. He was a noted figure in complex multidistrict class-action litigation.

He was born in Birmingham, Alabama and graduated from Ramsay High School in 1952. He received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Vanderbilt University in 1955, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1957, finishing first in his class. He was admitted to the Alabama State Bar in 1957, and went on to receive a Master of Laws in tax law from New York University School of Law in 1958. He was in the United States Army Reserve in the summer of 1957 until 1970, where he served in the 87th Maneuver Area Command and rose to the rank of major. He was in private practice in Birmingham from 1958 to 1970, working for his father, Sam C. Pointer Sr.^[1]

Pointer was nominated by President Richard Nixon on September 22, 1970, to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, to a new seat authorized by 84 Stat. 294. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 8, 1970, and received his commission on October 14, 1970. He served as Chief Judge from 1982 to 1999. He assumed senior status on November 19, 1999. His service terminated on April 3, 2000, due to his retirement.^[1]

While on the bench, Pointer ruled that Jefferson County Schools should bus students to achieve racial integration in the 1970s, for which he received numerous death threats.^{[citation needed]} He also issued orders regarding conditions and hiring policies at Birmingham's and Jefferson County's jails.^{[citation needed]} He upheld the City of Birmingham's Affirmative Action hiring plan in 1981 and again in 1992.^{[citation needed]} He also made significant rulings in litigation against the manufacturers of silicone gel breast implants, a national case assigned to him by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.^{[citation needed]} He was also involved in antitrust litigation against cast iron pipe and plywood manufacturers.^{[citation needed]}

In addition to his work on the bench, Pointer was principal author of the Manual for Complex Litigation, 2nd edition and served on the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.^{[citation needed]} From 1980 to 1987 he served on the Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals and from 1991 to 1993 was Chair of the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules.^{[citation needed]}

After retiring, Pointer joined the Birmingham firm of Lightfoot, Franklin & White as a partner.^{[citation needed]} He led the 2007 investigation into alleged academic improprieties surrounding the Hoover High School football team, concluding that athletes were given special treatment. The report led to the resignation of coach Rush Propst.^{[citation needed]}

• Sam Clyde Pointer Jr. at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• Meier, Barry (September 29, 1995) "A Judge and a Deadline: The Breast Implant Case" The New York Times
• Walton, Val (March 16, 2008) "Retired Alabama federal judge Sam Pointer Jr., towering legal figure, dies." Birmingham News