Morris Ames Soper (January 23, 1873 – March 11, 1963) was a

United States circuit judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Maryland ...

and previously was a United States district judge of the

United States District Court for the District of Maryland The United States District Court for the District of Maryland (in case citations, D. Md.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Maryland. Appeals from the District of Maryland are taken to the United States Court ...

Education and career

Born in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, Soper received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

in 1893 and 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 Ch ...

from the

University of Maryland School of Law The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law (formerly University of Maryland School of Law) is the law school of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and is located in Baltimore City, Maryland, U.S. Its location places Maryland L ...

in 1895. He was an assistant state's attorney of Baltimore City from 1897 to 1899. He was an Assistant United States Attorney of the District of Maryland from 1900 to 1909. He was in private practice in Maryland from 1909 to 1914. He was President of the Board of Police Commissioners for Baltimore City from 1912 to 1913. He was Chief Judge of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore from 1914 to 1921. He was in private practice in Maryland from 1921 to 1923.

Federal judicial service

Soper was nominated by President

Warren G. Harding Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents. A ...

on February 10, 1923, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge John C. Rose. 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 February 24, 1923, and received his commission the same day. His service terminated on May 9, 1931, due to his elevation to the Fourth Circuit. Soper received a

recess appointment In the United States, a recess appointment is an appointment by the president of a federal official when the U.S. Senate is in recess. Under the U.S. Constitution's Appointments Clause, the President is empowered to nominate, and with the a ...

from President

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...

on May 6, 1931, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Edmund Waddill Jr. He was nominated to the same position by President Hoover on December 15, 1931. He was confirmed by the Senate on January 12, 1932, and received his commission on January 19, 1932. He assumed

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

on June 2, 1955. His service terminated on March 11, 1963, due to his death.

Notable cases

Beginning in 1955, Soper sat on a 3-judge federal panel which handled various desegregation cases in Virginia. With Chief Judge

Charles Sterling Hutcheson Charles Sterling Hutcheson (July 23, 1894 – October 24, 1969) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Early life and education Born in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, to Mary ...

of the Eastern District of Virginia and new Eastern District judge Walter E. Hoffman, Soper heard many desegregation cases arising from the Byrd Organization's declared policy of Massive Resistance to racial desegregation. The panel heard the cases ultimately decided by the United States Supreme Court in Harrison v. NAACP and NAACP v. Button, which concerned attempts to harass NAACP attorneys (including future Supreme Court justice

Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...

, 4th Circuit judge

Spottswood Robinson Spottswood William Robinson III (July 26, 1916 – October 11, 1998) was an American educator, civil rights attorney, and a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit after previously s ...

and federal district judge Robert L. Carter) who were bringing the desegregation case.James R. Sweeney, Race, Reason and Massive Resistance: the Diaries of David J. Mays (University of Georgia Press 2008) Soper served on the board of trustees of

Morgan State University Morgan State University (Morgan State or MSU) is a public historically black research university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the largest of Maryland's historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). In 1867, the university, then known a ...

for more than three decades (as its chairman for half that time), and helped bring it within the Maryland state university system. His last judicial act (as a senior judge) was an order allowing an African American, Henry Gantt, to attend the school of architecture at

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enr ...

Death and papers

Soper died age 90 of complications after minor surgery at Baltimore's Union Memorial Hospital. Attorney General

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...

and Maryland Governor

Theodore McKeldin Theodore Roosevelt McKeldin (November 20, 1900August 10, 1974) was an American politician. He was a member of the Republican Party, served as mayor of Baltimore twice, from 1943 to 1947 and again from 1963 to 1967. McKeldin was the 53rd Governor ...

were among the pall bearers at his funeral. Soper's papers were donated to the Maryland Historical Society Library with a 25-year restriction on access, which with a snafu meant archiving did not begin for decades.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Soper, Morris Ames 1873 births 1963 deaths Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland United States district court judges appointed by Warren G. Harding Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit United States court of appeals judges appointed by Herbert Hoover 20th-century American judges Assistant United States Attorneys Presidents of the Baltimore Board of Police Commissioners