However , Ware 's nomination unraveled amid an embarrassing scandal that ultimately resulted in a judicial reprimand , and Clinton withdrew his nomination of Ware on November 27 , 1997 . In 1998 , Judge Ware was reprimanded by the Judicial Council of the Northern District Court of California for fabricating the story of being the brother of Virgil Ware , a 13-year-old black boy shot by white teenagers in Alabama in 1963 on the same day as the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing . According to a story Judge Ware had told many audiences , he was riding his bike with his brother Virgil on the handlebars when Virgil was shot and killed by white racists . The incident was a real one , however it happened to a different James Ware , as was discovered when Judge Ware 's claim was published in the Alabama papers after he was nominated to the Ninth Circuit by President Bill Clinton . The father of the long-ago slain boy contacted the Alabama courts to report that the California judge was impersonating his own son James Ware who was an employee in a Birmingham power plant . The Alabama courts contacted the California courts , who convened the ethics hearing . Judge Ware was reprimanded but allowed to retain his lifetime appointment as district judge
16th Street Baptist Church bombing
16th Street Baptist Church bombing
James Ware (judge)