Joseph Rodney Moss

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Joseph Rodney Moss
Chief Justice of South Carolina
In office
March 24, 1966 – June 15, 1975
Preceded byClaude A. Taylor
Succeeded byJames Woodrow Lewis
Associate Justice of South Carolina
In office
1956 – March 24, 1966
Preceded byTaylor Hudnall Stukes
Succeeded byC. Bruce Littlejohn
Personal details
BornJuly 15, 1903
York County, South Carolina
DiedApril 20, 1993 (1993-04-21) (aged 89)
Spouse(s)Rosa Dill
Alma materErskine College, University of South Carolina (J.D. 1927)

Joseph Rodney Moss (July 15, 1903 – April 20, 1993) was an associate justice and chief justice on the South Carolina Supreme Court.

In 1941, he was elected to the South Carolina Senate. In 1948, he became a trial court judge. He was chosen as an associate justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court in 1956. He was chosen as chief justice of the court in 1966.[1] He remained chief justice until he retired in 1975.[2] During that time, he supervised the relocation of the Supreme Court from the South Carolina State House to its current location on . The South Carolina unified court system was created while he served on the high court.

After retiring, he served as a special trial court judge. In 1985, he created controversy by saying "damn niggers" from the bench into a microphone that he may have thought was turned off.[3] He had been referring to a group of black protestors who were displeased about the conviction of a black man for the killing of a white man in Pendleton, South Carolina.[4] The York County Justice Center was named in his honor[5] over the objections of the NAACP.[6]

Personal life[]

He married Rosa Dill in 1931, they had no children and she died in 1966.[7]

References[]

  1. ^ "Chief Justice To Be Sworn In On March 24". Spartanburg Herald. Spartanburg, South Carolina. March 17, 1966. p. 30. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  2. ^ "Herald-Journal - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  3. ^ "Joseph Moss". Herald-Journal. Spartanburg, South Carolina. April 21, 1993. pp. B6. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
  4. ^ "Judge's Remark Angers NAACP". Herald-Journal. Spartanburg, South Carolina. January 28, 1995. pp. A1. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
  5. ^ "Memory Hold the Door". University of South Carolina. Retrieved November 23, 2014.
  6. ^ "NAACP opposed naming of new justice center". Herald-Journal. Spartanburg, South Carolina. October 9, 1991. pp. B3. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
  7. ^ "Joseph Rodney Moss : Memory Hold The Door | University of South Carolina School of Law". law.sc.edu. 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.


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