An honor for The Honorable!

Congratulations to West Marlborough Township resident Walter K. Stapleton, who on May 7 received the 2014 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Third Circuit.    

Judge Stapleton, who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, was presented with the award at the Third Circuit’s Annual Judicial Conference in Harrisburg by the Honorable Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and by the Honorable Thomas L. Ambro of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

The judge has had a truly impressive legal career. After graduating from Princeton, he earned his law degree from Harvard (he later obtained a masters in law from the University of Virginia). He went into private practice and served as assistant attorney general for Delaware in 1963 and 1964 before being appointed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware in 1970 by President Nixon. He served as chief judge from 1983 to 1985. In 1985, President Reagan nominated him to the U.S. Court of Appeals; he took senior status in 1999. 

In addition to all this, Walter is a charming, witty and self-effacing gentleman and a first-class host and raconteur. The honor is well deserved; we need more people like him in public service.