Richard Taylor Rives (January 15, 1895 – October 27, 1982) was an American lawyer and judge. A native of Alabama, he was the sole Democrat among the "Fifth Circuit Four," four United States circuit judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the 1950s and 1960s that issued a series of decisions crucial in advancing the civil and political rights of African-Americans. At that time, the Fifth Circuit included not only Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas (its current jurisdiction), but also Alabama, Georgia, and Florida (which were subsequently split off into the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit), and the Panama Canal Zone.
Richard Taylor Rives
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals
Chief Judge — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Born 1895 in Montgomery, AL
Died 1982 in Montgomery, AL
FJC ID: 2019
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 53/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 653/year
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals · 1951–1981Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals · 1981–1982
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- White
Prior employment
- Judicial Conference of the United StatesMember · 1959–1960
- Private practice, Montgomery, Alabama1914–1916, 1919–1951
U.S. Army1916–1919
Appointments
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth CircuitChief Judge1951–1981 · Appointed by Harry S Truman (Democratic)Term ended: Reassignment
Education
- Read law1914