Inez Smith Reid facts for kids

Inez Smith Reid, born on April 7, 1937, is a remarkable person who served as a judge on the highest court in Washington, D.C. She was also the main lawyer for the District of Columbia government.

Reid grew up in Washington, D.C. and went to Dunbar High School. She started college at Howard University and then graduated from Tufts University. After college, she and her twin brother, George Bundy Smith, who also became a judge, went to Yale Law School. They were the only two Black students in their class. At Yale, Reid shared a room with Eleanor Holmes Norton, who later became a delegate for D.C. in Congress. She also became friends with Marian Wright Edelman, who started the Children's Defense Fund.

After law school, Reid taught law in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She also earned a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Because it was hard for Black women to find jobs at law firms back then, she taught at several colleges. During the time Jimmy Carter was president, Reid moved to D.C. She worked for the government, first at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and then as the first Inspector General for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). From 1983 to 1986, she was the main lawyer for the District of Columbia. Later, she joined a law firm.

In 1995, President Bill Clinton chose Reid to be a judge on the D.C. Court of Appeals. When she stopped being an active judge in 2011, she had written more opinions than any other judge on that court. She continued to serve as a senior judge for six more years, retiring completely on December 12, 2017.

Early Life and Education Journey

Inez Smith and her twin brother, George Bundy Smith, were born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on April 7, 1937. Their father was Reverend Sidney R. Smith, Sr., and their mother, Beatrice Bundy, was a teacher. They also had an older brother. In 1938 or 1939, Reid's mother moved the children to Washington, D.C., which was still segregated at the time. They lived with relatives in a Black community in Northeast D.C..

Reid remembered her childhood in D.C. as being very supportive. Her community, church, school, and family were all very important. Even though many Black communities in D.C. had highly educated professionals, many struggled to find jobs because of racism. Many people with advanced degrees ended up teaching in segregated Black high schools, like Dunbar High School, where Reid went. At Dunbar, Reid was surrounded by smart Black teachers and motivated students. She felt this created an exciting environment where students were always reminded of those who succeeded despite challenges. Reid started learning French in elementary school and became fluent. She also studied Latin in high school.

College and Law School Experiences

After high school, Reid studied at Howard University and then Tufts University. At Tufts, she met students from many different backgrounds for the first time. When she started at Tufts as a sophomore, she didn't plan to become a lawyer. She wanted a broad education.

Reid and her twin brother, who was at Yale, were greatly influenced by the 1954 Brown v Board of Education Supreme Court decision. This was a major moment for equal education in America. In September 1958, Reid and her brother went to the Supreme Court to watch a case related to Brown v. Board. This case, Aaron v. Cooper, was about preventing schools in Little Rock, Arkansas, from integrating. Reid and her brother saw Thurgood Marshall argue the case and witnessed the historic decision that continued to enforce Brown v. Board in all states. Reid graduated with high honors from Tufts in 1962.

Reid's brother George was studying at Yale University. In their senior year, the twins applied to Yale Law School together. Even though Judge Reid received a scholarship to another law school, George encouraged her to join him at Yale. Judge Reid and her brother became the only two Black students in their class at Yale Law School. Sometimes, their white classmates mistook them for janitors or office staff. Despite these challenges, Reid remembered her time at Yale positively. She had great professors and classes and made new friends, including Marian Wright Edelman, who later founded the Children's Defense Fund. While at Yale, Judge Reid and her brother found funding to travel to Africa. They went with an organization that helped young people spend a summer building schools in newly independent countries. Judge Reid said her summer in Guinea was very important. She saw connections between the struggles of newly free Africans and African Americans living under unfair laws in the Southern United States. Inspired by what she saw in Africa and by the Freedom Riders in America, Judge Reid joined her twin brother at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund for three summers.

After graduating from Yale Law School, Reid earned a master's degree in political science from UCLA. She also earned a Ph.D. in government and public law from Columbia University in 1968. Later, in 2004, she earned another law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.

A Career of Public Service

Teaching Law in Congo

After finishing Yale Law School, Reid didn't have a job right away. She received a special fellowship and enrolled in a master's program at UCLA, focusing on African studies. The next year, she became a professor in Congo-Leopoldville (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). She taught students who were studying to become judges. Reid taught her law students in French during a time of conflict in Congo. She worked with European professors and administrators who sometimes didn't respect her American education. In Africa, just like in other places she lived, Reid faced challenges and had to prove herself.

Teaching in the United States

Her experience teaching in Congo, along with the limited job options for Black law school graduates, led Judge Reid to a career in education after she left Congo. She began her twelve-year teaching career in 1964 at the State University of New York at New Paltz. There, she taught African studies and political science while also studying at Columbia University. She also taught at Hunter College, Lehman College, Brooklyn College, and Barnard College. She taught law, political science, and African studies. She also wrote articles about constitutional law, African-American studies, African studies, and environmental law.

Working for the Government

Besides teaching, Reid also worked with groups that helped Black women and community development. In the 1970s, while teaching at Barnard College, her brother encouraged her to use her law degree more. In 1976, Reid took a break from Barnard to work as the General Counsel for the New York State Division of Youth.

In 1977, President Carter's administration asked her to work as the Deputy General Counsel for Regulation Review at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Reid then worked for the Carter Administration again as the Inspector General of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1979. At the EPA, Reid was in charge of checking the EPA's programs and rules. Her main goals were to make government programs work better and to prevent waste or fraud.

Leading the D.C. Legal Office

When President Reagan was elected, Reid and other Inspector Generals who worked for the Carter Administration lost their jobs. In March 1981, Reid became the chief of the Legislation and Opinion section in the office of the Corporation Counsel for the District of Columbia. This office is now called the Attorney General of the District of Columbia. This office had about 100 lawyers who represented the city in legal cases.

Mayor Marion Barry chose Reid to be the new Corporation Counsel on September 15, 1983. She replaced her former boss, Judith W. Rogers. Even though Reid was not widely known in Washington, her nomination was praised by Councilmember Wilhelmina J. Rolark. As the Corporation Counsel, Judge Reid was in charge of all the official legal matters for the District of Columbia. She supervised about 200 employees.

Working in Private Law Firms

In 1985, Judge Reid took a year off from her role as Corporation Counsel to teach at the University of West Virginia College of Law. In 1986, she left the Corporation Counsel's office to work for a law firm. There, Reid used her experience from the EPA to work on environmental law cases. Reid also worked at several other law firms.

Becoming a D.C. Appeals Court Judge

In 1995, President Bill Clinton nominated Reid to be a judge on the D.C. Court of Appeals. Reid took the place of Emmet G. Sullivan. Judge Reid was sworn in by her twin brother, George Bundy Smith, who was a judge on the New York Appeals court.

In 2010, a legal newspaper reported that Reid was the court's most active judge. She had written 85 legal opinions over four years. She was known for taking about 246 days to write each opinion.

Reid was one of five judges who supported a decision in a 2010 case about same-sex marriage. In their opinion, Reid and four other judges agreed that the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics acted correctly when it rejected a group's attempt to hold a public vote on same-sex marriage in the District.

Reid retired from active service on the appeals court on April 2, 2011. She continued to serve as a senior judge for six more years until her full retirement on December 12, 2017.

Awards and Recognition

Inez Smith Reid has received many honors for her work:

• 2011 Stars of the Bar Award from the Women's Bar Association of the District of Columbia
• Pro Bono Equal Rights Award from the Washington Committee of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund Inc.
• Ollie May Cooper Award from the Washington Bar Association
• Emily Gregory Award, Barnard Teaching College Awards, 1976
• 2012 Charles Hamilton Houston Medallion of Merit from the Washington Bar Association
• Hero in Law 2008 Award at the Annual Olender Foundation Awards

See also

• List of female state attorneys general in the United States