Walter Parker Stacy (1884–1951) was an American jurist, best known as Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court (1925–51,) the longest-serving in state history.
Born in Ansonville, North Carolina, he attended Weaverville College and Morven High School before earning a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1908.) Recognized for his oratory skills, he won the Willie P. Mangum Medal for Oratory. After studying law, he was admitted to the North Carolina Bar (1909.)
Stacy briefly worked as a history assistant at UNC before entering private practice in Wilmington. Elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives (1915,) he advocated statewide primaries and fisheries regulation. His legislative success led to his appointment as Superior Court judge (1916) and later as Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court (1920.) In 1925, Governor Angus Wilton McLean appointed him Chief Justice, a position he held until his death.
During his tenure, Stacy wrote over 1,500 judicial opinions, shaping North Carolina’s legal landscape. Considered for a U.S. Supreme Court appointment by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the position ultimately went to Hugo Black.
Biographies include Dillard S. Gardner’s Chief Justice Walter P. Stacy (1953) and Fred D. Ragan’s Stacy, Walter Parker (1994.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Walter P. Stacy
It would be almost unbelievable, if history did not record the tragic fact that men have gone to war and cut each other’s throats because they could not agree as to what was to become of them after their throats were cut
—Walter P. Stacy
Topics: History
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