[1] Pittman reached the rank of brigadier general in the Mississippi National Guard.

He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1957 and his J.D.

Pittman was first elected to the Mississippi State Senate in 1964 and was reelected in 1968 from Forest County.

[2] In 2000, Justice Pittman ruled that the courts are not in the position of determining the state flag.

He wrote, "In this case, the NAACP failed to offer any proof that the flying of the state flag deprived any citizen of a constitutionally protected right.