Following graduation, Norris practiced law in Lively and was a member of the law firm Norris, Richardson, Clarke and Foster.[2] In 1940, Norris was president of the Virginia State Bar Association.[1]
Norris was a Democrat. He served as a member in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1912 to 1928 and then as a member in the Virginia Senate.[1][3] He served as the President pro tempore from 1945 to 1950.[1][4] He served on various committees, including the senate steering, privileges and elections, courts of justice, fish and game, and interstate commerce committees. He became chairman of the senate finance committee in 1950. For three months in 1944, he left the senate to serve as a member of the state corporation commission. He was afterward re-elected. He retired on January 1, 1955.[1][2][3] In 1952, he opposed the redistricting of his senatorial district. Following his arguments, Stafford County and Prince William County were added to his district. In the fall of 1952, he withdrew as a presidential elector to support Republican presidential nominee Dwight Eisenhower.[1]
Personal life
Norris married Lelia Fauntleroy Claybrook, daughter of Baptist minister F. W. Claybrook, in February 1922. They had a daughter and son, Mrs. Dixon Foster and Robert O. III.[1][2] In 1950, he became president of the Northern Neck Historical Society and had a large collection of Northern Neck and Virginia history.[2]
Towards the end of his career, Norris was a patient at the Medical College of Virginia Hospital a number of times. He died on June 21, 1960, at a hospital in Richmond.[3] He was buried at White Chapel Episcopal Church Cemetery near Lively.[1]
