James Waddey "J.W." Clark (December 8, 1877 – February 24, 1939) was a justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court from 1925 to 1933. He was born in Allisona, Williamson County, Tennessee to Joseph Poindexter and Cora Belle Waddey. "James Waddey Clark.".Political Graveyard." Accessed December 19, 2016.Thoburn, "Justice J. W. Clark." In: A Standard History of Oklahoma. p. 41. Accessed December 19, 2016. After finishing public school, James became a traveling salesman, then went into the mercantile business, and finally went into business for himself. He took a course in law in 1907 and 1908, then enrolled in Cumberland University (Lebanon, Tennessee) in 1909. By 1910, he had opened a law practice and won election to the Oklahoma legislature. In 1912, he was elected County Attorney for Atoka County, Oklahoma and was reelected after his first two-year term expired. In 1917, he returned to private law practice in Atoka, where he remained until he won election to the Oklahoma Supreme Court in 1924, filling a vacancy and taking office in 1925. He was reelected for a full 6-year term in 1926.
In 1929, the Oklahoma House impeached Clark, passing eleven articles of impeachment against Clark alleging corruption. However, in his Impeachment trial, he was acquitted by one vote in the Oklahoma Senate, and served out the remainder of his term.William Aylor Berry, James Edwin Alexander, Justice For Sale: The Shocking Scandal of the Oklahoma Supreme Court (1996), p. 79.James Shannon Buchanan, Chronicles of Oklahoma (1974), Vol. 52, p. 234. After returning to private practice for a time, Clark again ran for a seat on the court in 1938,"Judge Clark Announces for Justice of Supreme Court", The Shawnee American (May 27, 1938), p. 1. but was not elected.
Personal and family life Justice Clark married Anna Paullin in Durant, Oklahoma on May 1, 1917. They had four children: Ann Virginia (b. September 27, 1917); Jim (b. November 6, 1920); Mary Louise (b. October 1, 1924); John Marshall (b. October 12, 1926).
Clark died in Denison, Texas, where he had been hospitalized for a kidney ailment."Former Judge Dies in Texas", The Daily Oklahoman (February 25, 1939), p. 1.
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