Alabama: Big Jim's Comeuppance

A cattle prod in his hand and a "Never" button on his shirt, Sheriff Jim Clark twinged the nation's conscience during last year's Selma march. As much as anyone, he personified the Southern inequity that provoked the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. It was, therefore, altogether fitting that Big Jim should be the loser in the first case brought under that law.

Runner-up in last month's Alabama primary, Clark got a second chance to keep his job when Dallas County's segregation-minded Democratic executive committee threw out six ballot boxes for "irregularities." The objective was to deny moderate Wilson Baker,...

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