Oren Ritter Lewis

Who was Oren Ritter Lewis?

Oren Ritter Lewis was a United States federal judge.

Born in Seymour, Indiana, Lewis received an LL.B. from George Washington University Law School in 1939. He was in private practice in Arlington County, Virginia from 1940 to 1960.

On March 21, 1960, Lewis was nominated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia vacated by C. Sterling Hutcheson. Lewis was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 31, 1960, and received his commission the same day. He assumed senior status on January 1, 1974. He served in that capacity until his death, in 1983, in Arlington, Virginia.

Judge Lewis authored the opinion on school desegregation in Virginia which was a basis for the 1954 landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in Brown v. Board of Education.