a passion for excellence and scholarship. Born in Spotsylvania
County, Virginia March 15, 1935 he graduated as
the valedictorian of his high school class. He then attended
Howard University where he graduated summa cum laude
and New York University Law School for his J.D. According
to Judge Burnett, “New York University Law School
was not his first choice”. He preferred to study law in his
home state, but the state of Virginia would not admit him
to attend the University of Virginia Law School in Charlottesville, Virginia and there were no Black law schools.
With potential litigation pending, the Commonwealth of
Virginia agreed to pay for his education to attend New York
University School of Law.
Judge Burnett began his career as a prosecutor in the Criminal
Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in June
1958. While there he earned the Attorney General’s Sustained
Superior Performance Award. He left in April 1965
to become an Assistant United States Attorney for the District
of Columbia, a position he held for almost four years.
He went on to become the first Legal Advisor, a position
now described as General Counsel, for the Metropolitan
Police Department. On June 26, 1969, Judge Burnett was
appointed as one of the first two United States Magistrates
for the District of Columbia and the first African American
to serve as a Magistrate Judge in the United States. In
1975, he became Assistant General Counsel at the United
States Civil Service Commission where he helped to develop
the Reorganization Plans and the legislation creating
the Office of Personnel Management, the Merit Systems
Protection Board, and the Federal Labor Relations Authority.
He was one of the principal attorneys advising the Civil
Service Commission members and President Jimmy Carter
on government reorganization, civil service reforms and
proposed legislation, and all federal government personnel
issues. He returned to the U.S. District Court for the District
of Columbia as a Magistrate Judge in January 1980.
President Ronald Reagan appointed him to the Superior
Court of the District of Columbia in November 1987 where
he served until his retirement in October 1998. He took
Senior Judge status the same year. Since retirement, Judge
Burnett has been teaching as an adjunct law professor at
two law schools and working with several civic, community
and professional organizations to address the crisis of
drug use and abuse in minority communities. Since August
1, 2004 he has been on sabbatical leave from the Superior
Court serving as the National Executive Director, National
African American Drug Policy Coalition.
During all of this illustrious legal career, Judge Burnett has
been passionate about reaching out and giving back. As
a United States Magistrate Judge and as a Superior Court
Judge it is estimated that he has mentored over 2,000 law
student judicial interns. In addition, his speeches to minority
high school, college and law school audiences are too
numerous to attempt to quantify. His efforts to bring diversity
to the legal profession is exemplary. Judge Burnett served as Chair of the ABA Judicial Division’s National Conference of Special Court Judges 1974-1975. He is a former president of the National Council of United States Magistrate Judges; the District of Columbia chapter of the Federal Bar Association; and the Prettyman-Leventhal American Inn of Court. He is the recipient of the ABA National Conference of Special Court Judges’ Franklin N. Flascher Judicial Award as the Outstanding Special Court Judge in 1985; the Federal Bar Association’s President’s Award; the National Bar Association’s President’s
Award; in 2004 the National Bar Association’s Judicial
Council Raymond Pace Alexander Award for Lifetime Contributions to Judicial Advocacy; also in 2004 the National
Bar Association’s highest award, the C. Francis Stradford Award; the National Conference of State Trial Judges Award
as one of its Outstanding Judges in 1999, and the Ollie May
Cooper Award of the Washington Bar Association.
Bro. Burnett was initiated in Omega through Alpha Chapter on May 1, 1954.
Source: The Oracle, Fall/Winter 2008
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