National Affairs: MAY IT PLEASE THE COURT. . .

With these traditional words, U.S. lawyers respectfully catch the ears of the learned judges hearing their appeals. Briggs v. Elliott, Case No. 2 of the five segregation cases heard last week by the Supreme Court, pitted together two of the legal profession's great advocates:

JOHN WILLIAM DAVIS, 80, a white-maned, majestic figure in immaculate morning attire who looks type-cast for the part, has argued more cases (140) before the Supreme Court of the U.S. than any other lawyer living or dead. His first, Pickens v. Roy, came on in 1902—when the present Chief Justice...