Name Robert Potter | Education Duke University | |
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Died July 2, 2009, Charlotte, North Carolina, United States | ||
Robert Daniel Potter (April 4, 1923 – July 2, 2009) was a United States federal judge.
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Early life and education
Born in Wilmington, North Carolina, Potter was in the United States Army during World War II, from 1944 to 1947. He received an A.B. from Duke University in 1947 and an LL.B. from Duke University School of Law in 1950.
Legal and political career
Potter engaged in the private practice of law in Charlotte, North Carolina from 1951 to 1981. He was a Mecklenburg County commissioner from 1966 to 1968.
Potter was a campaign worker for Republican Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, who recommended his appointment to the federal bench to President Ronald Reagan.
Judicial career
On October 1, 1981, Potter was nominated by Reagan to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina created by 92 Stat. 1629. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 29, 1981, and received his commission the same day.
Potter was known for sentencing convicted defendants to long terns at or near the maximum, a tendency that won him the nickname "Maximum Bob." Potter was the presiding judge in the 1989 trial of televangelist Jim Bakker, who bilked his followers. Potter sentenced to 45 years in prison for multiple fraud and conspiracy convictions. In passing sentence, Potter stated: "Those of us who do have a religion are sick of being saps for money-grubbing preachers and priests." On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the conviction but vacated the sentence, holding that "Regrettably, we are left with the apprehension that the imposition of a lengthy prison term here may have reflected the fact that the court's own sense of religious propriety had somehow been betrayed. In this way, we believe that the trial court abused its discretion."
In 1997, in the case of Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, Potter ordered the termination of desegregation busing of students in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District, ruling that the district had achieved "unitary" status; i.e., that it had "eliminated, to the extent practicable, the vestiges of past discrimination in the traditional areas of school operations." The decision was overturned by the Fourth Circuit in 2000.
Potter served as chief judge from 1984 to 1991. He assumed senior status on May 1, 1994.
Potter was a longtime financial supporter of Christendom College. He raised funds for the college and was a member of its advisory board.
On July 2, 2009, Potter died in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Personal life
Potter was Roman Catholic.