Jule W. Felton
American judge (1898–1978)
Jule Wimberly Felton (August 22, 1898 – December 21, 1978) was an American lawyer who served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia from 1969 to 1972.
Early life and education
Born in Montezuma, Georgia, Felton attended The Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, before receiving a B.A. from Oxford College of Emory University in Oxford, Georgia. He graduated with honors in law from Mercer University.
Career
Governor Richard Russell Jr. appointed Felton to a seat on the Georgia Public Service Commission on December 31, 1931. Felton served until July 21, 1933, when he was removed from office by Governor Eugene Talmadge, which Felton later described as a "political move." Felton ran for a seat on the state supreme court in 1934, but was unsuccessful.
Judicial service
In 1936, Felton was elected to a seat on the state court of appeals, and was privately sworn in by Governor Talmadge on December 21, 1936, to formally take office January 1, 1937. Felton was reelected to the court of appeals five times, without opposition, serving a total of 32 years on the court, "the longest term of any justice". He served as chief judge from 1954 to 1969, during which time he authored a line that was inscribed in marble over the bench of the court: "Upon the integrity, wisdom and independence of the judiciary depend the sacred rights of free men".
In September 1969, Governor Lester Maddox appointed Felton to a seat on the state supreme court vacated by the elevation of Bond Almand to the position of chief justice, following the death of previous Chief Justice William Henry Duckworth.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jule W. Felton” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.