James Ward Rector (June 24, 1903 – August 6, 1979) was an American jurist from

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. Born in

Glenwood, Missouri Glenwood is a village in Schuyler County, Missouri, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 181. It is part of the Kirksville Micropolitan Statistical Area. History The town of Glenwood was laid out by Alexander and Stiles Fo ...

, Rector received his bachelor's degree and law degrees from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

. He served as special counsel to the

Governor of Wisconsin The governor of Wisconsin is the head of government of Wisconsin and the commander-in-chief of the state's Wisconsin Army National Guard, army and Wisconsin Air National Guard, air forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws, and the ...

. In 1946, he was appointed to the

Wisconsin Supreme Court The Wisconsin Supreme Court is the Supreme court, highest and final court of appeals in the state judicial system of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. In addition to hearing appeals of lower Wisconsin court decisions, the Wisconsin Supreme Court also ...

(filling the seat left vacant by the

death on the bench A death in office is the death of a person who was incumbent of an office-position until the time of death. Such deaths have been usually due to natural causes, but they are also caused by accidents, suicides, disease and assassinations. The deat ...

of Joseph Maritn), but was defeated by Henry P. Hughes in the election in 1947. Rector then served on the Wisconsin Public Service Commission and then resigned, in 1949, to become president of a bank and practiced law. He ran again for state supreme court in in 1949, but again lost.

Notes

People from Schuyler County, Missouri University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni University of Wisconsin Law School alumni Justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court 1903 births 1979 deaths 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century Wisconsin state court judges {{Wisconsin-state-judge-stub