[3] Although the first stage of Massive Resistance to desegregation of Virginia's schools was over (which even included United States District Judge C. Sterling Hutcheson retiring from the bench rather than enforce Brown v. Board of Education), segregation remained.
[4] Early in his long judicial career, Merhige ordered dozens of Virginia's public school systems to desegregate, and for a time was considered the most hated man in Richmond—under 24-hour protection by the United States Marshals Service and with weekly protests at his home, his mother-in-law's cottage on his property was burned to the ground, and his dog tied up and shot dead.
Critics focused on Judge Merhige personally, including noting that his own children were enrolled in private school and thus unaffected by his order.
One of Merhige's orders in that case was overturned by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on June 6, 1972, barring most busing schemes that made students cross county/city boundaries, but not before influencing that year's presidential primary in Miami Beach, Florida.
[9] Merhige retired from the federal bench on June 8, 1998, and joined the law firm of Hunton & Williams in Richmond with a practice focusing on mediation.
[10][11] In 1993, the building where they had practiced as lawyers and judges was renamed the Lewis F. Powell Jr. United States Courthouse, after their longtime friend and colleague.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit continues to use that National Historic Landmark building.
The Center for Environmental Studies at the University of Richmond School of Law is named in his honor, as is the moot court room.