Earl Cornelius Latourette (February 10, 1889 – August 18, 1956) was the 32nd Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court and a Clackamas County Circuit Court judge. He served as chief justice for two years and died while still in office as a justice in 1956.

Latourette was born in Oregon City, Oregon, on February 10, 1889, to Charles David Latourette and his wife Sedonia Bird Shaw Latourette.^[1] Both parents were pioneer settlers to Oregon.^[1] He had three brothers; Mortimer Dillon, Howard Fenton, and John Randolph.

The LaTourette family were French Huguenots who fled persecution and settled in Staten Island, New York in the late 1600s.^[2] Family members began moving westward in the 1800s, settling in St. Louis and Michigan. In 1879 LaTourette's father moved from Michigan to Oregon City to form a law partnership with his cousin, Dewitt Clinton Latourette.^[3]

LaTourette attended the University of Oregon, where he was on the football^[4] and track teams. He was the quarterback on the 1910 Oregon football team and scored the winning touchdown to beat what is now Oregon State University, and received All-Northwest Honors for two seasons.^{[citation needed]} Following college, he enrolled at the University of Oregon School of Law, which at that time was located in Portland.^[1] He graduated in 1912, and then passed the bar in 1915.^[1] Latourette began practicing law in Oregon City after passing the bar, and remained in private practice until 1931.^[1]

In 1931, he was appointed as a circuit court judge for Oregon’s 5th judicial district that included Clackamas County, holding that position until 1950.^[1][5] During his time on the bench he lived in Oregon City, and in 1936 attended the funeral of fellow judge John Hugh McNary.^[6] Then on January 19, 1950 Oregon Governor Douglas McKay appointed Latourette to replace E. M. Page on the Oregon Supreme Court.^[7][8] Page had resigned from his position the day before, less than a year after he had been appointed to the court.^[8] Later that year Latourette won election to a full six-year term on the bench.^[8] Then in 1953 he was selected by his fellow justices to be Chief Justice, serving as Chief Justice until 1955.^[8] During this time as Chief Justice, future politician Norma Paulus clerked for him. Latourette encouraged her to attend law school, which she did at Willamette University College of Law.^[9] On August 18, 1956, Justice Earl Latourette died in office^[8]

On April 30, 1912, Earl C. Latourette married Ruth Steiwer of Fossil, Oregon. Ruth was the daughter of William H. Steiwer, and a member of a prominent political family from Eastern Oregon.^[1][10] The couple’s children included daughters Anne Latourette Cook, Jeanne Latourette Linklater and^[11] Earl C. "Neil" Latourette, Jr. (d. 1982).^[12] Earl C. later married Eleanor Marshall in 1949, and they did not have any children.

• The oldest house in Gearhart, Oregon belonged to the Latourette family beginning in 1926. Earl’s father Charles David Latourette later had his two sons Earl and brother John flip a coin to determine who would inherit the property with John winning the coin toss.^[13]
• Justice Latourette donated the land in Oregon City where the Clackamas County Historical Society’s museum is located.^[5]