The Chattanooga Bar Association and General Sessions Court unveiled the portrait of the late Hon. Mike Carter in courtroom one Dec. 12.
Carter served as a Hamilton County general sessions judge from 1997 to 2005 and as a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from 2013-2021. He died after battling pancreatic cancer in 2021.
State Sen. Todd Gardenhire, Carter’s daughter-in-law Misha Roberts Carter, and Carter’s wife, former state representative Joan Carter, presented remarks.
Gardenhire said Carter was “too damn smart for the legislature,” while his daughter-in-law lauded his constant willingness to help those in need. Carter’s wife told a story about a time he sentenced a drug offender to the local workhouse and then, troubled by the sentence he’d given the woman, drove her to Teen Challenge two days later.
In a letter the woman wrote to the Carters after graduating from the program, she said the experience enabled to her to stop taking drugs and changed her life in positive ways.
“Mike was deeply compassionate, but don’t get me wrong; he could hold your feet to the fire when it was necessary,” his wife said.
Born in 1953 and a lifelong resident of Ooltewah, Carter graduated from Ooltewah High School and earned an undergraduate degree from Middle Tennessee State University before obtaining his Juris Doctor from the Memphis State School of Law in 1978.
Carter practiced law in Memphis and Chattanooga for 20 years before then Gov. Don Sundquist appointed him to the bench.
Carter served as special assistant to Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey before being elected Tennessee state representative of House District 29, where he served on the House Civil Justice Committee, House Ethics Committee and Tennessee Advisory Council on Intergovernmental Relations.
In the House, Carter was know as “The Judge” for the legal counsel he provided on often complex litigation. Carter drafted and passed several pieces of legislation during his 10 years in the legislature, including a bill that ended forced annexation in Tennessee – a practice that allowed cities to annex property without the consent of property owners.
Carter and his wife have two sons, Stephen and Tim, and two grandchildren, Walter and Freddie. He was a lifelong member of Ooltewah Baptist Church.