Joe Busbey Hamiter (November 6, 1899 – January 7, 1986) was a justice of the

Louisiana Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Louisiana (french: Cour suprême de Louisiane) is the highest court and court of last resort in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The modern Supreme Court, composed of seven justices, meets in the French Quarter of New Orlea ...

from January 1, 1943 to July 30, 1970, serving briefly as chief justice from August 1 to December 30, 1970. Born in

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...

, Hamiter graduated from Shreveport High School in 1917 and attended

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 ...

from then until 1919."Obituaries", ''The Shreveport Times'' (January 10, 1986), p. 10. After a hiatus spent farming and working in real estate and insurance, he returned to LSU in January 1921, receiving his LL.B. in 1923, as valedictorian of his class. Hamiter entered the practice of law in Shreveport, and served two terms representing

Caddo Parish Caddo Parish ( French: ''Paroisse de Caddo'') is a parish located in the northwest corner of the U.S. state of Louisiana. According to the 2020 U.S. census, the parish had a population of 237,848. The parish seat is Shreveport, which developed a ...

in the

Louisiana House of Representatives The Louisiana House of Representatives (french: link=no, Chambre des Représentants de Louisiane) is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. This chamber is composed of 105 repr ...

, from 1928 to 1935, where he generally opposed the efforts of supporters of Governor Huey Long. Hamiter was elected to the Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal in 1935, taking office in January 1936. He was elected to a fourteen-year term to the state supreme court in 1942, taking office in January 1943, and running unopposed for reelection to another fourteen-year term in 1956, remaining on the court until the end of 1970. Hamiter served as chief justice for the last five months of his tenure.

Personal life and death

Hamiter married Hattie Wells Courtney on September 21, 1942. She predeceased him, and they had no children. He died at his home in Shreveport.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamiter, Joe Busbey 1899 births 1986 deaths People from Shreveport, Louisiana Louisiana State University alumni Members of the Louisiana House of Representatives Justices of the Louisiana Supreme Court 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American judges