Retired federal judge donated to hate group tied to Charlottesville protests
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From Trump Tower in New York City, President Trump told reporters that both sides were to blame for the violence that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia.
USA TODAY
NASHVILLE — A former federal judge contributed nearly $3,000 to a nonprofit group closely tied to the violent white-supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Va.
Robert L. Echols, now at the Nashville law firm of Bass Berry Sims, donated $2,950 to the Mary Noel Kershaw Foundation, which finances firearms self-defense training for the League of the South. The Southern Poverty Law Center considers both organizations neo-Confederate hate groups.
Public tax filings for the Kershaw Foundation list Echols donating $1,600 and $1,350 between October 2014 and September 2016. The nonprofit forms list his law office’s address.
One of the foundation’s main activities is to provide grants to the league. In 2015 the Kershaw Foundation paid for three self-defense classes, records show — one with firearms — with an average of 15 people attending each class.
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Before last week’s Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, League president Michael Hill, a board member of the Kershaw Foundation, told attendees to prepare for violence in defense.
League members clashed with counter-protesters. That same day an Ohio man rammed his car into a group of anti-white supremacist protesters, leaving one Virginia woman dead and a nation reeling.
Echols, nominated by George H.W. Bush, served as a United States district judge for the Middle District of Tennessee from 1992 until his retirement from the bench in 2010. Today, he is in his 70s and specializes in “dispute resolution alternatives†as part of the Bass Berry Sims litigation and dispute resolution group.
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He could not be reached for comment Wednesday. His assistant said he was on vacation and not reachable by cellphone.
The law firm issued a statement through a spokeswoman condemning “views espoused by hate groups such as this one.”
“We expect everyone affiliated with our firm to conduct themselves according to our values, which are rooted in integrity, fairness, inclusion and respect,” the statement said. “That is why, as soon as we learned about this news story, we launched our own internal investigation. We are taking all necessary steps to address this issue.”
Follow Michael Reicher on Twitter: @mreicher
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