Constitutional Rights & Responsibilities Recognizes "B" Holt

Article Date: Friday, February 05, 2010

Written By: Russell Rawlings

"B" Holt accepts award.

Longtime N.C. legislator Bertha “B” Merrill Holt of Burlington was honored Friday as the 2010 recipient of the John McNeill Smith Jr. Constitutional Rights and Responsibilities Section Award.

The award was presented at the section’s annual meeting and CLE by Michael Crowell who currently serves as chair of the Constitutional Rights and Responsibilities Section.

Named in honor of the section’s founding chair, the award was established “to honor a person who has demonstrated extraordinary commitment to the ideals embodied in the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of North Carolina.”

Previous recipients are John Charles “Jack” Boger, dean of the School of Law at the University of North Carolina who was honored in 2007 as the initial recipient; John Sanders, who directed the Institute of Government at the UNC for nearly 25 years and was honored in 2008; and former N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice James G. Exum Jr. of Greensboro who was honored last year.

“She has devoted a lifetime to fighting for due process under law and other treasured civil liberties guaranteed by the Bill of Rights,” stated Katherine Lewis Parker in nominating Holt.

Throughout her tenure in the legislature, Parker added, “she was involved in work to improve the lives of women, children and families.”

A native of Eufaula, Ala., Holt served in the N.C. House of Representatives from 1975-94. She received her bachelor’s degree from Agnes Scott College, which honored her in 2007 as the recipient of the honorary Doctor of Laws.

Holt received her law degree from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1941, but considers herself a member of the Class of ’41 at the UNC School of Law, where she attended her first two years.

She returned to Alabama at the urging of her mother to complete her law degree, but was soon back in North Carolina after her marriage to the late W. Clary Holt.

“I really never left UNC,” said Holt, who said she was doubly honored to receive an award named for her longtime friend and legislative colleague McNeill Smith. Holt also worked with Smith in establishing the section.

“This was quite a surprise, and quite an honor,” Holt said. “I worked on committees at the Episcopal Church with Mac’s wife, and we were in the General Assembly together, he in the Senate and I in the House. We were together on a lot of matters during that time, and when I chaired the Constitutional Amendments Committee for two sessions, we worked closely together.”

Holt served as vice chair of the Constitutional Rights & Responsibilities Section in 2001-02 and would have served as chair the following year had her services not been required as chair of the Juvenile Justice and Children’s Rights Section.

The latter also honored Holt as the initial recipient of its Juvenile Justice Award, which is named in her honor.