Seybourn Lynne; Judge Countered Gov. Wallace

Seybourn H. Lynne, 93, who enabled two black students to attend the University of Alabama in 1963 over the adamant objections of Gov. George C. Wallace. After 29 years on the bench, Lynne’s historic opinion thwarting Wallace was the first he had written in the first person. “I know many of both races are troubled and, like Jonah of old, are ‘angry unto death,’ ” he wrote in ruling that no state governor could interfere with the law of the land. “My prayer is that all of our people, in keeping with our finest tradition, will join in the resolution that law and order will be maintained.” Never known as an advocate of civil rights, Lynne seemed to modify his stance after that signal opinion, also ruling in 1966 that segregation of jails was unconstitutional and in 1969 that a Birmingham cemetery must be integrated. Friends said Lynne’s seemingly slow conversion toward civil rights was partly caused by his dislike of protest tactics. Born in Decatur, Ala., and educated at Auburn University and the University of Alabama law school, Lynne worked in the Decatur law firm started by his grandfather, a Confederate Civil War veteran. Lynne was elected to a county court in 1934 and to the state circuit court in 1940. After serving as an Army military judge in the Pacific during World War II, he was appointed to the federal bench by President Harry S. Truman. Lynne, the longest serving active judge on the federal bench, had worked part-time on senior status since 1973. Five years ago, the Decatur federal building across the street from Lynne’s birthplace was designated by Congress as the Seybourn H. Lynne Federal Courthouse. On Sunday in Birmingham, Ala.