He was born in Manning, South Carolina, the eldest of five children of Morris and Rae Levy Ness, on February 27, 1916.
His family moved to Denmark, South Carolina, when he was a young boy, and his mother and father lived there until their deaths.
Ness initially practiced with the late State Senator J. Carl Kearse, at a salary of US$30[3] per month.
He was heavily involved in Bamberg County community activities, and in 1954, he was elected to represent the Second Judicial Circuit, on the South Carolina Highway Commission.
[2] Ness was elected as an associate justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court and sworn in on December 5, 1974.