Louis Stokes: 1925-2015

The C|M|Law family, the greater Cleveland area and the United States has lost a great man. Louis Stokes one of C|M|Law’s most prominent alumni has passed from cancer. Stokes was born in Cleveland, Stokes lived in one of the first federally funded housing projects, the Outhwaite Homes. After attending Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Stokes began practicing law in Cleveland in 1953. Stokes argued the seminal “stop and frisk” case of Terry v. Ohio before the United States Supreme Court in 1968. Later in 1968, he was elected to the House of Representatives and served for 30 years.

Stokes’ time in the House of Representatives included service on the House Appropriations Committee, the House Select Committee on Assassinations, charged with investigating the murders of President John F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., and the House committee that investigated the Iran-Contra Affair.