A very special guest will be speaking at the Greenville Lions Club next Monday, July 2.

Stephen Black, great-grandson of Justice Hugo Black, will take the podium at the club's regular noon meeting at the Boys and Girls Club.

Justice Black, a Clay County native, is considered to be one of the great constitutional advocates of the Supreme Court of the United States. President Franklin Roosevelt nominated him to the Supreme Court in 1937 after 11 years of Senate service.

In spite of nagging questions concerning a brief past membership in the Klan, Black proved to be &#8220the antithesis of a bigot” as he championed minority rights as a Justice until his retirement in 1971.

His great-grandson, Stephen, followed in Justice Black's footsteps to become a lawyer.

Black is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and a 1997 graduate of the Yale Law School.

He has worked for the Governor's Office and in private practice. Black ran a very competitive race in 2002 for the office of State Treasurer, coming up a little short in the general elections.

He is currently serving on the faculty of the University of Alabama as a senior lecturer on Communications Ethics and is now directing the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility.

&#8220I think Stephen Black will provide an excellent program next week and we look forward to having him as our guest,” said Lion Frank Hickman.