Elmer Gordon West (November 17, 1914 – November 2, 1992) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana (in case citations, E.D. La.) is a United States federal court based in New Orleans. Appeals from the Eastern District of Louisiana are taken to the United States Court of Ap ...

and the

United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana The United States Court for the Middle District of Louisiana (in case citations, M.D. La.) comprises the parishes of Ascension Parish, Louisiana, Ascension, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, E ...

Education and career

Born in

Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, West received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree from

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

in 1941. He received a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from the

Paul M. Hebert Law Center The Paul M. Hebert Law Center, often styled "LSU Law", is a public law school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is part of the Louisiana State University System and located on the main campus of Louisiana State University. Because Louisiana is a c ...

at Louisiana State University in 1942. He was in the

United States Naval Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Sele ...

from 1942 to 1945. He was an attorney for the Louisiana State Department of Revenue from 1945 to 1946. He was an inheritance tax collector for the State of

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

from 1948 to 1952. He was in private practice of law in

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-sma ...

, Louisiana from 1946 to 1961.

Law partnership with Senator Long

In 1946, West opened the law firm of Long & West, with soon to be

United States Senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

Russell B. Long Russell Billiu Long (November 3, 1918 – May 9, 2003) was an American Democratic politician and United States Senator from Louisiana from 1948 until 1987. Because of his seniority, he advanced to chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, servin ...

. At LSU, West met Long. Both men served in the Navy during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. According to West, " ring the invasion of Sicily, my ship hit a mine. We were torn up pretty bad. We came back; the ship was half underwater. They towed us back to northern Africa. I got a message that another ship was going to have a moving picture in their hold." West went on to say, " e picture had already started. When I got down to the hold of the ship my eyes got acclimated to the dark and I looked around, and two seats down was Russell Long. Well, as far as we both were concerned, that far away from home, anyone from home really looked good. And so that was the beginning of our real wonderful friendship. Russell and I became such very good friends, and when we got out we decided to go into law practice together. So, we formed the firm of Long and West in January 1946." In 1950, West became a member of the firm Kantrow & West, which ultimately became Kantrow, Spaht, West & Klienpeter, and remained in general active practice until September 5, 1961.

Federal judicial service

West was nominated by President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

on September 5, 1961, to the

, to a new seat created by 75 Stat. 80. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on September 14, 1961, and received his commission on September 15, 1961. He served as Chief Judge from 1967 to 1972. He was reassigned by

operation of law The phrase "by operation of law" is a legal term that indicates that a right or liability has been created for a party, irrespective of the intent of that party, because it is dictated by existing legal principles. For example, if a person dies wi ...

to the

on April 16, 1972, to a new seat established by 85 Stat. 741. He was a member of the

Judicial Conference of the United States The Judicial Conference of the United States, formerly known as the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges, was created by the United States Congress in 1922 with the principal objective of framing policy guidelines for administration of judicial cour ...

from 1971 to 1974. He served as Chief Judge from 1978 to 1979. He assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

on November 27, 1979. His service was terminated on November 2, 1992, due to his death. As of 2020, West is the only judge appointed by a Republican president to have served on the District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana. All direct appointments to this Court have been by Jimmy Carter,

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

, making the Middle District of Louisiana the only federal court where all appointments have been by presidents of one party.

Notable case

West was widely praised for his protection of the rights of prisoners in litigation challenging the constitutionality of conditions of confinement in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. In 1975, West ruled that Angola prison conditions "shocked the conscience" and entered an injunction designed to improve the penitentiary and decentralize the Louisiana prison system. The Fifth Circuit affirmed, remanding for determination of specific inmate population and security staffing requirements. Williams v. Edwards, 547 F.2d 1206 (5th Cir. 1977). The Angola Museum website intimates that West's order resulted eventually in quadrupling the number of security guards; major facilities renovations, including construction of four new camps; and improved rehabilitative efforts and prisoner medical care at Angola.

Death and legacy

West died on November 2, 1992, aged 77. Upon his death, Senator Long stated, "The Lord never made a better man that Gordon West. He was fair, hard working and had a heart that was compassionate to all." United States District Judge

Frank Joseph Polozola Frank Joseph Polozola (January 15, 1942 – February 24, 2013) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana. Education and career Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Polozola received a ...

remarked that West was one of the "most scholarly judges I ever met...there was no question that he had a very strong belief in the Constitution."

Notes

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:West, Elmer Gordon 1914 births 1992 deaths Louisiana State University Law Center alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana Judges of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana United States district court judges appointed by John F. Kennedy 20th-century American judges United States Navy personnel of World War II 20th-century American lawyers People from Hyde Park, Boston United States Navy reservists