Circuit Court Judge D’Army Bailey is resigning from the court after 19 years on the bench. Bailey announced his resignation effective Sept. 15 in a letter to Gov. Phil Bredesen.

“It’s something that I’ve been thinking about at least since May,” Bailey told The Daily News. “I’m at the stage in life where I’ve had 19 years on the bench and they’ve just been wonderful rewarding years. … I think that there’s an opportunity to help people as a lawyer. … I think now is the time to go back out and be of service in a different way.”

Bailey was re-elected to an eight year term in 2006. Prior to that, he was an attorney and ran for Memphis mayor in 1983. Bailey explored the idea of running in the Oct. 15 special election for Memphis Mayor. But he said his resignation is not connected to the race.

Bailey recently completed a book about his days in the civil rights movement, “The Education of a Black Radical: A Southern Civil Rights Activist’s Journey 1959-1964,” which will be released by LSU Press next month. He will be on a book tour starting next month.

Read more in Tuesday’s edition of The Daily News.