Background
Morton, Leland Clure was born on February 20, 1916 in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Son of George W. and Birdie (Myers) Morton.
Morton, Leland Clure was born on February 20, 1916 in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Son of George W. and Birdie (Myers) Morton.
Bachelor, University Tennessee, 1934. Juris Doctor, University Tennessee, 1936.
Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Morton received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Tennessee in 1934 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1936. He was in private practice in Knoxville from 1937 to 1941. He was an Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent in Washington, District of Columbia, from 1941 to 1945, thereafter returning to private practice in Knoxville, from 1946 to 1970.
On September 21, 1970, Morton was nominated by President Richard M. Nixon to a seat on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee vacated by William Ernest Miller.
Morton was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 8, 1970, and received his commission on October 14, 1970. He served as chief judge from 1977 to 1984, assuming senior status on July 31, 1984, and serving in that capacity until his death, in 1998, in Knoxville.
In 1996, the L. Clure Morton United States Post Office and Courthouse in Cookeville, Tennessee, was renamed in his honor.
Counselor East Tennessee council Boy Scouts American, 1937—1940. Board directors Cerebral Palsy Foundation, Boys Club, Boys of Tennessee. Member of Nashville Bar Association, Tennessee Bar Association, S.R., Phi Kappa Phi.
Married Marjorie J. Hernandez, September 13, 1945 (deceased 1993).