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Term of Service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: January 1933 – February 1933
Judge Clarence A. Burney was born March 27, 1871, in Rantoul, Kansas. He attended Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kansas, for two years before attending The University of Kansas, from which he graduated in 1895 with a bachelor of arts degree. Two years later, he received his law degree from The University of Kansas.
Burney was admitted to practice law in 1897 in Kansas and in 1900 in Missouri. He practiced law in the Kansas City, Kansas, office of Silas Porter before moving to Missouri in 1901, practicing law with the Kansas City, Missouri, firm of Karnes, New, Hall, & Krauthoff.
In 1909, Burney was appointed assistant city counselor for Kansas City. The following year, he was elected municipal judge for Kansas City, serving two terms in that position for four years. In 1914, he was elected to a six-year term as circuit judge of Division 6 of the 16th Judicial Circuit in Jackson County, Missouri. After completing his term, he was elected in November 1922 to a two-year term as the Jackson County prosecuting attorney. In 1926, he was elected, for a second time, for another six-year term as circuit judge of Division 6 of the 16th Judicial Circuit.
Voters elected Burney in November 1932 for a 10-year term as a judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri. In a public ceremony held January 2, 1933, in the Court’s Division I courtroom, he was sworn in as a judge, along with Judge Ernest M. Tipton, by then-Chief Justice Ernest S. Gantt
Judge Burney’s time with the Court, however, was very short. On February 8, 1933 – almost six weeks after his tenure began – he died in Jefferson City due to two consecutive heart attacks. He was 61 years old.
Biographical information by Dylan Powers-Cody, 2024, Truman State University.
Sources used (a copy of each is on file at the Supreme Court of Missouri Law Library):
Alumni Catalogue, March 1908, (Topeka, KS: State Printing Office, 1908), 40 and 51, information courtesy of Google Books, accessed March 1, 2024.
Charles U. Becker, compiler, Charles U. Becker, Secretary of State, State of Missouri, Official Manual, For Years Nineteen Twenty-Seven and Nineteen Twenty-Eight, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Press, 1928), 139.
“Clarence A. Burney,” Centennial History of Missouri (The Center State), vol. iii, (St. Louis, MO: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1921), 624, 627, information courtesy of Google Books, accessed March 1, 2024.
“Clarence A. Burney,” Missouri State Board of Health, Certificate of Death, filed February 16, 1933, Missouri Death Certificates Database, 1910-1973, information courtesy of Missouri Death Certificates Database, Missouri Digital Heritage website, Missouri State Archives, accessed February 23, 2024.
Dwight H. Brown, compiler, Dwight H. Brown, Secretary of State, State of Missouri, Official Manual of the State of Missouri, For the Years Nineteen Thirty-Three and Nineteen Thirty-Four, (Jefferson City, MO: Midland Printing Co., 1934), 612.
John L. Sullivan, compiler, John L. Sullivan, Secretary of State, Official Manual of the State of Missouri, For the Years 1917-1918, (Jefferson City, MO: The Hugh Stephens Co., Printers, 1918), 106.
“Judge Burney, New Member of Supreme Court is Dead,” J efferson City Post-Tribune (Jefferson City, Missouri), February 8, 1933, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed March 1, 2024.
“Judge Clarence A. Burney, California Democrat, (California, Missouri), April 14, 1932, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed March 1, 2024.
“The Winning Ticket,” The Kansas City Times, (Kansas City, Missouri), November 8, 1922, SHSHMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed February 23, 2024.
Thirty-Third Annual Catalogue of the University of Kansas, For the Year 1898-’99, (Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Pres, 1899), 141, information courtesy of Google Books, accessed March 1, 2024.
“Tipton, Burney Take Oath For Supreme Court,” Jefferson City Post-Tribune, (Jefferson City, Missouri), January 2, 1933, SHSMO Digital Newspaper Project, information courtesy of State Historical Society of Missouri website, accessed March 1, 2024.