U.S. General Services Administration
GSA and the U.S. Judiciary host dedication ceremony for federal court house in Shreveport, Louisiana
Federal Court house named after Tom Stagg
SHREVEPORT, La. — Today, the U.S. General Services Administration and the U.S. Judiciary joined to commemorate the naming of the Tom Stagg Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Shreveport, Louisiana, in memory and in honor of the late U.S. District Judge Tom Stagg, who was instrumental in the design and construction of what has become a city and regional landmark. Many family, friends and professional associates of Judge Stagg were in were in attendance.
“GSA is honored to memorialize Judge Stagg in this way and to serve the Court at this facility.” said GSA Acting Regional Commissioner James Ferracci.
“United States District Judge Tom Stagg was instrumental in designing and obtaining funding for the construction of a United States Court House in Shreveport,” reads a resolution regarding the naming of the building, which houses not only the court and its judges, but myriad associated federal entities. It reads further that Stagg “testified before Congress and maintained a daily supervisory presence during the construction of the court house.”
Thomas Eaton Stagg Jr. was an attorney, businessman, politician and jurist who served as a judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana from his appointment by President Richard M. Nixon in the spring of 1974 until his death in 2015, at age 92. For his last 23 years on the bench, he held the title of “senior status.”
During World War II, Judge Stagg was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, Bronze Star for Valor, a second Bronze Star for meritorious service and the Purple Heart with Oak leaf cluster for wounds received in battle. During the war, Stagg escaped death when a German bullet struck a Bible that he carried in a pocket.
After the war, Judge Stagg briefly attended Cambridge University in Great Britain and then the LSU Law Center, from which he received his Juris Doctor degree in 1949. He practiced law with the firm of Hargrove, Guyton, Van Hook and Hargrove, as a solo practitioner and as a senior partner with Stagg, Cady, Johnson and Haygood and a successor firm, Stagg, Cady and Beard.
Judge Stagg was the Republican National Committeeman from Louisiana from 1964 to 1972, a member of the executive committee of the Republican National Committee from 1964 to 1968 and was a five-time delegate to GOP national conventions, from 1956 to 1972. He served on the platform committees in 1960, 1964 and 1968. He was a former member of the Caddo Parish Republican Executive Committee and the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee.
Known for his legal acumen, dry humor, walking, badminton and bow ties, Judge Stagg cut a colorful figure in state and local circles, training dozens of attorneys and future judges as his law clerks and setting a high bar for his peers. Now he will be forever remembered through the name of a court house and federal building he is largely responsible for erecting.
###