Elmer Gordon West (November 17, 1914 – November 2, 1992) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana (in case citations, E.D. La.) is a United States federal court based in New Orleans. Appeals from the Eastern District of Louisiana are taken to the United States Court of A ...

and the

United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana The United States Court for the Middle District of Louisiana (in case citations, M.D. La.) comprises the parishes of Ascension, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Livingston, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, West Baton Rouge, and West ...

Education and career

Born in Hyde Park,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, West received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree from

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

in 1941. He received a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from the

Paul M. Hebert Law Center The Paul M. Hebert Law Center, often styled "LSU Law", is a Public university, public law school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is part of the Louisiana State University System and located on the main campus of Louisiana State University. Because ...

at Louisiana State University in 1942. He was in the

United States Naval Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2004, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called reservists, are categorized as being in either the S ...

from 1942 to 1945. He was an attorney for the Louisiana State Department of Revenue from 1945 to 1946. He was an inheritance tax collector for the State of

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

from 1948 to 1952. He was in private practice of law in

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

, Louisiana from 1946 to 1961.

Law partnership with Senator Long

In 1946, West opened the law firm of Long & West, with soon to be

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

Russell B. Long. At LSU, West met Long. Both men served in the Navy during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. According to West, " ring the invasion of Sicily, my ship hit a mine. We were torn up pretty bad. We came back; the ship was half underwater. They towed us back to northern Africa. I got a message that another ship was going to have a moving picture in their hold." West went on to say, " e picture had already started. When I got down to the hold of the ship my eyes got acclimated to the dark and I looked around, and two seats down was Russell Long. Well, as far as we both were concerned, that far away from home, anyone from home really looked good. And so that was the beginning of our real wonderful friendship. Russell and I became such very good friends, and when we got out we decided to go into law practice together. So, we formed the firm of Long and West in January 1946." In 1950, West became a member of the firm Kantrow & West, which ultimately became Kantrow, Spaht, West & Klienpeter, and remained in general active practice until September 5, 1961.

Federal judicial service

West was nominated by President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

on September 5, 1961, to the

, to a new seat created by 75 Stat. 80. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on September 14, 1961, and received his commission on September 15, 1961. He served as Chief Judge from 1967 to 1972. He was reassigned by

operation of law The phrase "by operation of law" is a legal term that indicates that a right or liability has been created for a party, irrespective of the intent of that party, because it is dictated by existing legal principles. For example, if a person dies wi ...

to the

on April 16, 1972, to a new seat established by 85 Stat. 741. He was a member of the

Judicial Conference of the United States The Judicial Conference of the United States, formerly known as the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges, was created by the United States Congress in 1922 with the principal objective of framing policy guidelines for administration of judicial co ...

from 1971 to 1974. He served as Chief Judge from 1978 to 1979. He assumed senior status on November 27, 1979. His service was terminated on November 2, 1992, due to his death. As of 2020, West is the only judge appointed by a Republican president to have served on the District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana. All direct appointments to this Court have been by Jimmy Carter,

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

, making the Middle District of Louisiana the only federal court where all appointments have been by presidents of one party.

Notable case

West was widely praised for his protection of the rights of prisoners in litigation challenging the constitutionality of conditions of confinement in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. In 1975, West ruled that Angola prison conditions "shocked the conscience" and entered an injunction designed to improve the penitentiary and decentralize the Louisiana prison system. The Fifth Circuit affirmed, remanding for determination of specific inmate population and security staffing requirements. Williams v. Edwards, 547 F.2d 1206 (5th Cir. 1977). The Angola Museum website intimates that West's order resulted eventually in quadrupling the number of security guards; major facilities renovations, including construction of four new camps; and improved rehabilitative efforts and prisoner medical care at Angola.

Death and legacy

West died on November 2, 1992, aged 77. Upon his death, Senator Long stated, "The Lord never made a better man that Gordon West. He was fair, hard working and had a heart that was compassionate to all." United States District Judge Frank Joseph Polozola remarked that West was one of the "most scholarly judges I ever met...there was no question that he had a very strong belief in the Constitution."

Notes

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:West, Elmer Gordon 1914 births 1992 deaths Louisiana State University Law Center alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana Judges of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana United States district court judges appointed by John F. Kennedy United States Navy personnel of World War II 20th-century American lawyers People from Hyde Park, Boston United States Navy reservists