Herbert Titus

{{Short description|American attorney, writer, and politician (1937–2021)}}

{{Infobox politician

|name = Herbert W. Titus

|image = Herbert W. Titus.jpg

|birth_date = {{birth date|1937|10|17}}

|death_date = {{death date and age|2021|06|20|1937|10|17}}{{cite web|url=http://www.lawandfreedom.com/wordpress/herbert-w-titus/|title=Herbert W. Titus|publisher=William J. Olson, P.C.|date=June 27, 2021|accessdate=August 19, 2021}}

|death_place =

|party = Constitution

|spouse = Marilyn Titus

|alma_mater = University of Oregon
Harvard University

}}

Herbert William "Herb" Titus (October 17, 1937 – June 20, 2021) was an American attorney, writer, and political candidate. He was the Constitution Party's nominee for Vice President during the 1996 presidential election.

Early life

Titus was born in Baker City, Oregon on October 17, 1937. He attended Baker public schools, where he graduated as co-valedictorian of the class of 1955. Four years later he graduated from the University of Oregon, where he had served as student body president. Titus graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1962.

Career

Titus held a law degree from Harvard University, graduating cum laude, and a B.S. degree in political science from the University of Oregon, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa.{{cite web|title=About Us: Biography of Herbert W. Titus - LawAndFreedom.com|url=http://www.lawandfreedom.com/site/aboutus/hwt.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030323233515/http://www.lawandfreedom.com/site/aboutus/hwt.html|archive-date=March 23, 2003|website=lawandfreedom.com|publisher=William J. Olson, P.C.|access-date=February 5, 2016}} He was vice president of the freshman class at Oregon.{{cite news |title=U of O Frosh Elect | work=The Oregon Journal |date=November 11, 1955 }}

He was an active member of the Virginia Bar Association and was admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the United States Court of Federal Claims, and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and District of Columbia and Federal Circuits. He was also admitted to practice in the Army Court of Criminal Appeals and the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.

After two years as a trial attorney and a Special Assistant United States Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, Titus worked as a professor of law from 1964 to 1979 at the state universities of Oklahoma, Colorado and Oregon. He was "active in various left-wing-based political causes" during this period, opposing the Vietnam War and supporting homosexual rights and abortion rights. He also worked with attorneys and clients on a number of constitutional cases in his role as a regional director with the American Civil Liberties Union.

In 1975, Titus was "dramatically converted to Christ" while attending a Sunday School class with his wife, after which he studied with Dr. Francis Schaeffer in Switzerland for a year.[http://www.wordmp3.com/speakers/profile.aspx?id=227 Dr. Herb Titus - Biography] WordMP3.com retrieved 2014/04/18

He left his tenured position as professor of law at the University of Oregon in 1979 to become a member of the charter faculty at the O. W. Coburn School of Law at Oral Roberts University. Three years later, Titus moved to CBN University (later named Regent University), where he served for a total of eleven years, first as the founding Dean of the School of Public Policy{{cite web|title=Dr. Herb Titus: A Constitutional Profile In Courage|url=http://www.theamericanview.com/dr-herb-titus-a-constitutional-profile-in-courage/|date=July 27, 2012|website=The American View|publisher=Institute on the Constitution|access-date=February 11, 2016}} and then as Vice-President for Academic Affairs.{{cite web|title=Herbert W. Titus, Esquire |url=http://www.spirit-filled.org/titus.html |website=The Coalition of Spirit-filled Churches |access-date=February 11, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007031641/https://www.spirit-filled.org/titus.html |archive-date=October 7, 2011}} Starting in 1986, Titus became the founding Dean of the College of Law and Government in Regent University. All told, Titus taught constitutional law, common law, and other subjects at five different law schools for almost 30 years.

He was the author of a book entitled God, Man and Law: The Biblical Principles.

Titus was of counsel at the Virginia law firm of William J. Olson, P.C., specializing in Constitutional Law, Legislative Practice, Appellate Practice, Election and Campaign Finance, and Firearms Law.[https://www.martindale.com/vienna/virginia/herbert-william-titus-1741357-a/ Herbert William Titus] Martindale.com retrieved December 6, 2017

Politics

Titus was the 1996 vice presidential nominee for the Constitution Party (then known as the U.S. Taxpayer's Party) as the running mate of the party founder Howard Phillips.{{cite news |title=Presidential race livened by fringe teams |date=August 28, 2000 | work=The Cincinnati Post |first=Sharon |last=Moloney }}[http://www.constitutionparty.com/the-party/history/ History of the Constitution Party] www.constitutionparty.com retrieved 2014/05/01

Along with his client, former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, Titus was an original drafter of the Constitution Restoration Act, which sought to take out of federal court jurisdiction appellate cases that involved public officials who acknowledged God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government, and provided for the impeachment of federal judges who disregarded the act.{{Cite web|url=https://www.salon.com/2004/05/05/roy_moore/|title = Will Roy Moore crack the Bush base?|date = 5 May 2004}}[http://www.waff.com/Global/story.asp?S=1644862 Judge Roy Moore Introduces Constitution Restoration Act 2004] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040402080717/http://www.waff.com/Global/story.asp?S=1644862 |date=2004-04-02 }} WAFF News, February 13, 2004 The act did not pass either time it was introduced, but its tenets were incorporated into the 2004 Republican Party platform.{{cite book|author=FitzGerald, Frances|author-link=Frances FitzGerald (journalist)|title=The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ViCMDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA512|access-date=6 December 2017|date=4 April 2017|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-1-4391-4315-5|pages=512–513}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/papers_pdf/25850.pdf |title=2004 Republican Party Platform: A Safer World and a More Hopeful America |access-date=2017-12-06 |archive-date=2015-09-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924081357/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/papers_pdf/25850.pdf |url-status=dead }}

Personal life

Residents of Chesapeake, Virginia, Titus and his wife, Marilyn, to whom he had been married 52 years at the time of his death, had four children and 15 grandchildren.[http://www.lawandfreedom.com/site/aboutus/hwt.html About Us: Biography of Herbert W. Titus] His son, Troy A. Titus, of Virginia Beach, Va., was sentenced to 30 years in prison for operating multiple fraud schemes to steal and misappropriate almost $10 million from clients and investors.

{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160115144339/http://www.lawandfreedom.com/site/aboutus/hwt.html |date=2016-01-15 }} LawAndFreedom.com retrieved 2014/04/17

Titus died on June 20, 2021, a practicing lawyer until his death.

Writings

Judicial Tyranny: The New Kings of America? - contributing author (Amerisearch, 2005) {{ISBN|0-9753455-6-7}}
God, Man and Law: The Biblical Principles (Institute In Basic Life Principles, 1994) {{ISBN|0-916888-17-7}}