Home County: Jackson
Term of Service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: February 1933 – December 1964
Caleb A. (C.A.) Leedy Jr.[i] was born on May 20, 1895, in Benton, Missouri.[ii] He was educated in public schools in Cameron, Plattsburg, and Missouri Wesleyan College before studying law.[iii] Judge Leedy studied law at St. Joseph Law School under the direction of Judge Alonzo D. Burnes, Judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit of Missouri.[iv] He served as the court reporter for the Fifth Judicial circuit from 1912 to 1925.[v] Leedy was admitted to the bar in Plattsburg, Missouri in January 1922.[vi] In 1925, he moved to Kansas City and formed a law partnership with his brother H. G. Leedy and was in practice until he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Missouri.[vii]
On February 14, 1933, he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Missouri by Governor Guy B. Park succeeding the late Judge Clarence A. Burney.[viii] Leedy was elected in the November 1934, for a term that expired on December 31, 1942.[ix] In November of 1942, he was retained for a ten-year term under the Non Partisan Court Plan.[x] In 1952, he was retained again, under the Non Partisan Court Plan, for a twelve year term.[xi] During Judge Leedy’s service with the Supreme Court of Missouri, he served three terms as Chief Justice: 1940-1941, 1948-1949, and 1955-1956.[xii] With a service spanning over three decades (32 years), Judge Leedy has a record of service with the Supreme Court of Missouri, for the longest tenure for a state Supreme Court judge to date.[xiii] Judge Leedy retired on December 31, 1964[xiv] and returned to Kansas City.[xv]
He was a member of numerous legal associations, including; The Missouri Bar, American Bar Associations, and American Law Institute.[xvi] Judge Leedy was an honorary member of the Order of the Coif (University of Missouri-Columbia), an honorary alumnus of the University of Kansas City, School of Law, as well as a member of Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity (Tiedeman Inn-honorary).[xvii] Judge Leedy’s local contributions to law were also significant. In 1957, he collaborated with then acting Lt. Governor Edward V. Long and the Missouri Bar Association in declaring September “Law of Your Life Month,” in an effort to encourage Missourians to practice civic engagement in their everyday lives.[xviii]
Judge C.A. Leedy Jr. passed away on October 8, 1978, at the age of 83.[xix]
[i] Supreme Court of Missouri, “Caleb A. Leedy,” Index to Docket & Roll of Attorneys 1917-1926 Missouri Supreme Court. Copy in Judge Leedy’s file in the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library.
[ii] Dwight H. Brown, Secretary of State, Dwight H. Brown, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, for Years Nineteen Thirty-Three and Nineteen Thirty-Four, (Jefferson City, MO: Midland Printing Company, 1934), 127.
[iii] Dwight H. Brown, Secretary of State, Dwight H. Brown, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, for Years Nineteen Thirty-Three and Nineteen Thirty-Four, (Jefferson City, MO: Midland Printing Company, 1934), 127.
[iv] Dwight H. Brown, Secretary of State, Dwight H. Brown, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, for Years Nineteen Thirty-Three and Nineteen Thirty-Four, (Jefferson City, MO: Midland Printing Company, 1934), 127.
[v] Dwight H. Brown, Secretary of State, Dwight H. Brown, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, for Years Nineteen Thirty-Three and Nineteen Thirty-Four, (Jefferson City, MO: Midland Printing Company, 1934), 127.
[vi] Dwight H. Brown, Secretary of State, Dwight H. Brown, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, for Years Nineteen Thirty-Five and Nineteen Thirty-Six, (Jefferson City, MO: Midland Printing Company, 1936), 123.
[vii] Dwight H. Brown, Secretary of State, Dwight H. Brown, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, for Years Nineteen Thirty-Five and Nineteen Thirty-Six, (Jefferson City, MO: Midland Printing Company, 1936), 123.
[viii] Dwight H. Brown, Secretary of State, Dwight H. Brown, publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, for Years Nineteen Thirty-Five and Nineteen Thirty-Six, (Jefferson City, MO: Midland Printing Company, 1936), 123.
[ix] Wilson Bell, Secretary of State, Wilson Bell publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, for Years Nineteen Forty-Five and Nineteen Forty-Six, (Jefferson City, MO: Mid-State Printing, Co., 1946), 197.
[x] Wilson Bell, Secretary of State, Wilson Bell publisher, State of Missouri, Official Manual, for Years Nineteen Forty-Five and Nineteen Forty-Six, (Jefferson City, MO: Mid-State Printing, Co., 1946), 197. See also: Warren E. Hearnes, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., State of Missouri, Official Manual for the Years 1963-1964, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffman Press, Inc., 1964), 211.
[xi] Warren E. Hearnes, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., State of Missouri, Official Manual for the Years 1963-1964, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffman Press, Inc., 1964), 211.
[xii] Warren E. Hearnes, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., State of Missouri, Official Manual for the Years 1963-1964, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffman Press, Inc., 1964), 211.
[xiii] The Kansas City Times Staff, Judge C.A. Leedy Jr., The Kansas City Times, (Kansas City, Missouri), October 11, 1978. See also: Gerald T. Dunne, The Missouri Supreme Court: from Dred Scott to Nancy Cruzan, (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1993), 209.
[xiv] Warren E. Hearnes, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., State of Missouri, Official Manual for the Years 1963-1964, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffman Press, Inc., 1964), 211.
[xv] The Kansas City Times Staff, Kansas Citian, Ex-Chief Justice, Dies, (Kansas City, Missouri), October 10, 1978.
[xvi] “Law in Your Life Month,” The Missouri Bar Journal, vol. 13, no. 9, (September 1957), 157. See also: The Kansas City Times Staff, Kansas Citian, Ex-Chief Justice, Dies, (Kansas City, Missouri), October 10, 1978.
[xvii] Warren E. Hearnes, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed., State of Missouri, Official Manual for the Years 1963-1964, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffman Press, Inc., 1964), 211.
[xviii] “Law in Your Life Month,” The Missouri Bar Journal, vol. 13, no. 9, (September 1957), 157.
[xix] The Kansas City Times Staff, Kansas Citian, Ex-Chief Justice, Dies, (Kansas City, Missouri), October 10, 1978.
Biographical information authored by Ms. Anna Theroff, 2019, Washington University, St. Louis.