He is, as of 2019, the highest ranking judicial official from Mississippi since Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar II served on the United States Supreme Court in 1893.

He attended law school at the University of Mississippi, where he was a member of Delta Psi fraternity and met his future wife, Emily.

[3][4] The case was settled on appeal by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in Meredith’s favor in September 1962, resulting in the Ole Miss riot of 1962.

[5] On October 7, 1969, President Richard Nixon nominated Clark to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated by Judge Claude Feemster Clayton.

In 1973 and again in 1976, he was recommended to fill vacancies on the United States Supreme Court and each time, he received the American Bar Association's highest qualification.