Walter Wyatt

(b. Savannah, Ga., 20 July 1893; d. Washington, D.C., 26 Feb. 1978), reporter of decisions, 1946–1963. Wyatt received his legal education at the University of Virginia, where he was editor in chief of the Virginia Law Review. Awarded the LL.B. in 1917, he began a long tenure at the Federal Reserve Board, rising from law clerk, to assistant to counsel, to general counsel of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 1922 to 1946. During World War I, Wyatt was an associate member of the Legal Advisory Board of the Selective Service. Wyatt was also general counsel to the Federal Open Market Commission from 1936 to 1946.

Wyatt was appointed the Supreme Court's reporter of decisions on 1 March 1946, after the position had been vacant for more than two years. Serving until 1963, he edited or coedited volumes 322 through 376 of the United States Reports. Wyatt edited volumes 322–325 retroactively; they contained decisions of the Court announced during the reporter's vacancy and had been supervised by Assistant Reporter Philip U. Gayaut. During his career, Wyatt published a number of works about banking law.

— Francis Helminski

Walter Wyatt served as reporter of decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1946 to 1963. Prior to becoming reporter, Wyatt spent almost thirty years working for the Federal Reserve Board as an attorney. Wyatt's tenure was marked by a series of important decisions, including Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 74 S. Ct. 686, 98 L. Ed. 873 (1954), which struck down state-sponsored, racially segregated schools.

Wyatt was born on July 20, 1893, in Savannah, Georgia. He attended the University of Virginia Law School and served as editor in chief of the Virginia Law Review, graduating in 1917. During World War I, he was a member of the Legal Advisory Board of the Selective Service.

In 1922 Wyatt took a position as law clerk with the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C. He rose from assistant to counsel to general counsel of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. From 1936 to 1946, Wyatt also served as general counsel to the federal Open Market Commission.

The Supreme Court appointed Wyatt its reporter in 1946. Because the position had been vacant for more than two years, Wyatt edited volumes 322 to 325 of the United States Reports, which had been previously published without editorial review. During his seventeen years as reporter, Wyatt edited or coedited 123 volumes of decisions, writing a syllabus for each opinion that highlights the important points of each case.

Wyatt also published numerous works on banking law throughout his career.

Wyatt retired from his position in 1963. He died in Washington, D.C., on February 26, 1978.

Walter Wyatt (July 20, 1893 – February 26, 1978) was an American lawyer, who served as the twelfth Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Born in Savannah, Georgia, Wyatt received his LL.B. from the University of Virginia in 1917. During World War I, Wyatt worked as legal adviser to the Selective Service System, the federal agency charged with enforcing the newly implemented military draft. From 1922 to 1946, he was an attorney for the Federal Reserve System, ending his career there as General Counsel of the agency, and from 1936 to 1946, he also served as counsel to a related agency, the Federal Open Market Committee. During this period, Wyatt also authored several books on banking law.

Wyatt was appointed as the Supreme Court's Reporter of Decisions on March 1, 1946, after the post had been vacant for two years following the death of Ernest Knaebel. He retroactively edited the volumes of the United States Reports covering those two years, volumes 322 to 325.

Wyatt died in Washington, D.C. in 1978. Much of his official correspondence and personal papers are stored at the Special Collections Library of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, Virginia and available for research.

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Preceded by Ernest Knaebel	United States Supreme Court Reporter of Decisions 1946 – 1963	Succeeded by Henry Putzel, Jr.

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