Walter Edward Hoffman (July 18, 1907 – November 21, 1996) 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 Virginia The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (in case citations, E.D. Va.) is one of two United States district courts serving the Commonwealth of Virginia. It has jurisdiction over the Northern Virginia, Hampton Roa ...

Education and career

Born in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

, Hoffman 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 the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

in 1928. After attending the

William & Mary Law School William & Mary Law School, formally the Marshall-Wythe School of Law, is the law school of the College of William & Mary, a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. It is the oldest extant law school in the United States, having be ...

, 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

Washington and Lee University School of Law The Washington and Lee University School of Law (W&L Law) is the law school of Washington and Lee University, a private liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia. It is accredited by the American Bar Association. Facilities are on the histo ...

in 1931. He was in private practice of law in

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

from 1931 to 1954. He was an assistant professor of law at the William & Mary Law School from 1933 to 1942. He was a Referee in Bankruptcy for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia from 1942 to 1944.

Federal judicial service

Hoffman was nominated by President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

on June 29, 1954, to the

, to a new seat created by 68 Stat. 8. 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 July 14, 1954, and received commission the next day. He served as Chief Judge from 1961 to 1973. He assumed senior status on September 3, 1974. He was Director of the

Federal Judicial Center The Federal Judicial Center is the education and research agency of the United States federal courts. It was established by in 1967, at the recommendation of the Judicial Conference of the United States. According to , the main areas of re ...

from 1974 to 1977. His service was terminated on November 21, 1996, due to his death in Norfolk.

Notable cases

Hoffman was soon caught up in desegregation cases arising from Virginia's (or the

Byrd Organization The Byrd machine, or Byrd Organization, was a political machine of the Democratic Party led by former Governor and U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd (1887–1966) that dominated Virginia politics for much of the 20th century. From the 1890s until the ...

's) policy of Massive Resistance. Initially, he handled them on his docket, but soon a three judge panel was created: of Hoffman, Senior 4th Circuit Judge Morris Ames Soper and fellow district 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 ...

(until his retirement). Many of those cases were appealed by the losing Virginia entities to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal and United States Supreme Court. Those included the attempted closing of Seashore State Park to avoid integration, as well as attempts to keep Norfolk's schools segregated, and to harass the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

attorneys bringing desegregation cases (''

Harrison v. NAACP ''Harrison v. NAACP'', 360 U.S. 167 (1959), is a 6-to-3 ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States which held that the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia should have abstained from deciding the constitutionali ...

'', '' NAACP v. Button'', both of which were actually handled by David J. Mays and his associates as outside counsel). During his judicial career, Hoffman drew considerable praise as well as criticism (including a cross being burned on his lawn) for his handling of cases involving Massive resistance and desegregation of schools in Norfolk and

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond, and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near whe ...

. He handled several cases involving boundary disputes between states at the direction of the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

, and presided over the trial of fellow Judge Harry E. Claiborne, as well as sentenced Vice-President

Spiro Agnew Spiro Theodore Agnew (; November 9, 1918 – September 17, 1996) was the 39th vice president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1973. He is the second of two vice presidents to resign, the first being John C. ...

after his plea of

nolo contendere ''Nolo contendere'' () is a type of legal plea used in some jurisdictions in the United States. It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense. It is a plea where the defendant neither admits nor disputes a Criminal charge, charg ...

. A firm believer in litigants' rights to a speedy trial, Hoffman introduced the "rocket docket" in his district, which continues today.

Death and legacy

A federal judge for 42 years, until his death in Norfolk, the Walter E. Hoffman United States Courthouse in Norfolk is named in Hoffman's honor. His papers are held by the Washington and Lee University in the archives of its School of Law. The Norfolk and Portsmouth Bar Association also names its annual award for outstanding hands-on community service for the late jurist.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffman, Walter Edward 1907 births 1996 deaths People involved with the civil rights movement College of William & Mary faculty Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia Lawyers from Jersey City, New Jersey People from Norfolk, Virginia United States district court judges appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower University of Pennsylvania alumni Washington and Lee University School of Law alumni William & Mary Law School alumni