Luther B. Way
Luther B. Way | |
---|---|
Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia | |
In office March 4, 1931 – October 23, 1943 | |
Appointed by | Herbert Hoover |
Preceded by | Duncan Lawrence Groner |
Succeeded by | Charles Sterling Hutcheson |
Personal details | |
Born | Alamance County, North Carolina | September 26, 1879
Died | October 23, 1943 Norfolk, Virginia | (aged 64)
Education | University of Virginia School of Law |
Luther Bynum Way (September 26, 1879 – October 23, 1943) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.[1]
Early and family life
Born in Alamance County, North Carolina, Way graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1907. He married Ione Hornaday, and they had three sons: Franklin (b. 1911), Luther Jr. (b. 1913) and O. Newton (b. 1915).[2]
Legal career
Admitted to the Virginia bar, Way was in private practice in Norfolk from 1907 to 1922, and tried to revitalize the Republican party in the Tidewater region. As campaign manager for Menalcus Lankford, he did twice secure his friend's election to Congress. He was a special assistant to the United States Attorney in the United States Department of Justice in 1922. He was in private practice in Norfolk, Virginia from 1923 to 1931, and widely endorsed for the judicial post.[1][3]
Federal judicial service
On February 21, 1931, President
Because of the Great Depression, bankruptcies and receiverships (including of the
Two of the more controversial cases Judge Way decided involved disparate pay for black schoolteachers and administrators. In the first case, involving Margaret Alston, Way had granted the school board's motion to dismiss, holding that Alston had accepted the lower pay in her annual contract. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed him, and the U.S. Supreme Court denied the school board's petition for review.[5] Thus, when a similar matter involving schoolteacher Dorothy Roles reached Judge Way, in January 1943, he issued an injunction forbidding further pay discrimination.[3]
Death and legacy
Judge Way died of a heart attack on October 23, 1943, about two weeks after being hospitalized for a heart condition. He was survived by his two older sons, who both served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was preceded in death by his youngest son (1935) and his wife (1940). He was buried at Norfolk's Forest Lawn cemetery.[6]
References
- ^ a b c Luther B. Way at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
- ^ 1930 U.S. Federal Census for District 81, Norfolk (Independent City), Virginia p. 6 of 35
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- ^ Alston v. School Board of Norfolk, 112 F.3d 992 (1940), cert. denied 311 U.S. 693 (1940)
- ^ Virginia death certificate on ancestry.com