Marlin Theophelus Phelps (October 9, 1881 – February 13, 1964) was a justice of the

Supreme Court of Arizona The Arizona Supreme Court is the state supreme court of the U.S. state of Arizona. Sitting in the Supreme Court building in downtown Phoenix, the court consists of a chief justice, a vice chief justice, and five associate justices. Each justice ...

from January 4, 1949 to January 3, 1961. He served as chief justice from January 1954 to December 1954, and from January 1959 to December 1959.

Biography

Born in

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, Phelps received his law degree from

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

. He died at Good Samaritan Hospital in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

. Phelps served as a judge on the superior court from 1923 to 1948. When he took the bench he was one of two superior court judges in the county and when he retired the number had increased to seven. An outspoken critic of judicial activism and a founding member and director of the

John Birch Society The John Birch Society (JBS) is an American right-wing political advocacy group. Founded in 1958, it is anti-communist, supports social conservatism, and is associated with ultraconservative, radical right, far-right, or libertarian ideas. T ...

, Phelps was characterized by the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' as the "high priest of conservatism." He served on the state supreme court for 12 years until December 31, 1960 when he was defeated in his re-election bid. Of his 1960 defeat, he said: "I have reached the age when in my philosophy and my relationship with God I believe that anything that happens to me is for the best. And I accept the last election in that way." In 1961 Judge Phelps came out of retirement to help handle a large backload of criminal cases in superior court, devoting several months to the task.

Marriage

Phelps married Margaret Phelps (born 1884 in Christianburg, Virginia) and they had a son, William. Margaret came to Phoenix in 1912 from Nashville, Tennessee. Margaret wrote children's books with an Arizona background including: Pico and the Silver Mountain, Toby on the Sheep Drive, Regular Cowboy, Antelope Boy, Chia and the Lambs, Guard and the Golden Boy, Ketch Dog and Territory Boy. Margaret died on September 18, 1953, in Phoenix.https://sharlot.org/archives/rosegarden/show.pl?woman=MARGARET%20T.%20PHELPS

References

External links

Arizona State Archives - Photo of Marlin T. Phelps

Court Listener-Marlin T. Phelps
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phelps, Marlin T. 1881 births 1964 deaths People from Tennessee Vanderbilt University alumni Chief Justices of the Arizona Supreme Court John Birch Society members Justices of the Arizona Supreme Court 20th-century American judges