Levi Stewart Udall

{{Short description|American judge (1891–1960)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name =Levi Stewart Udall

| image =File:Levi S. Udall 1946.png

| office = Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court

| term_start = January 1957

| term_end = December 1958

| predecessor = Arthur T. LaPrade

| successor = Marlin T. Phelps

| term_start2 = January 1951

| term_end2 = December 1952

| predecessor2 = Arthur T. LaPrade

| successor2 = R.C. Stanford

| office7 = Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court

| term_start7 = January 6, 1947

| term_end7 = May 30, 1960

| predecessor7 = Joseph H. Morgan

| successor7 = Jesse Addison Udall

| birth_date ={{birth date|1891|1|20|mf=y}}

| birth_place =St. Johns, Apache, Territory of Arizona

| death_date ={{death date and age|1960|5|30|1891|1|20|mf=y}}

| death_place =Wickenburg, Arizona

| party = Democrat

| spouse = Louise Lee

}}

Levi Stewart Udall (January 20, 1891 – May 30, 1960) was an American lawyer who served as chief justice of the Arizona Supreme Court. He was a member of the Udall political family.

Born and raised in Arizona, he was the son of David King Udall, a politician, and Ella Stewart Udall, the first telegraph operator in the Arizona Territory.Nogales international. [volume] (Nogales, Ariz.), 15 Feb. 1946. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. He was named after his grandfather, Levi Stewart. He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In 1914 he married Louisa Lee, a granddaughter of John D. Lee and Jacob Hamblin. They would later have six children.

He passed the Arizona Bar exam in 1922, and was admitted to the bar, without having earned a law degree (a common practice in those days). Later that year he succeeded his father as stake president of the St. Johns Stake, a position he held until 1945.

In 1922, he lost a bid to be elected as clerk to the Arizona Superior Court.{{where|date=May 2016}} He was defeated by his older brother John Hunt Udall.

In 1946 he was elected to the Arizona Supreme Court, and remained a Justice of that court from 1947 until his death. In 1948 Udall wrote the majority opinion of the Arizona State Supreme Court granting Native Americans living on reservations the right to vote.{{Cite web |url=http://domex.nps.edu/corp/files/govdocs1/518/518663.pdf |title=article on minority voting rights, p. 94 |access-date=2009-12-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720014213/http://domex.nps.edu/corp/files/govdocs1/518/518663.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-20 |url-status=dead }} From 1951 to 1952 and 1957–1958 he served as the chief justice of that court.{{cite web |url=http://www.supreme.state.az.us/azsupreme/hxjust.htm |title=Welcome to Arizonas Supreme Court Justices, Past and Present! |accessdate=2006-09-08 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060908143201/http://www.supreme.state.az.us/azsupreme/hxjust.htm |archivedate=2006-09-08 }}

In 1960 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Arizona. He died on May 30 of that year.