Born in
Smithfield,
North Carolina, Morris received an
Artium Baccalaureus degree from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1912. He attended the
University of North Carolina School of Law, but
read law to enter the bar in 1913. He was in private practice in
Tampa, Florida from 1913 to 1933. He was in the
United States Army from 1917 to 1919. He began officer training school at
Fort McPherson, Georgia on May 12, 1917 and became a first lieutenant on August 15. He was subsequently assigned to Company C,
326th Infantry Regiment at
Camp Gordon. In three months, he was assigned as
adjutant of first battalion and became
judge advocate. In May 1918, he deployed to France with his Battalion for
World War I. In June, he was promoted to captain and assigned to the regimental staff of Colonel John C. McArthur. He was in the
United States Department of Justice from 1933 to 1939, as a special assistant to the
Attorney General of the United States from 1933 to 1935, and as an Assistant Attorney General from 1935 to 1939. ==Federal judicial service==