Perry Oliver Hooper Sr. (April 8, 1925 – April 24, 2016) was an American

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

who served as the 27th chief justice of the

Alabama Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Alabama is the highest court in the state of Alabama. The court consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Each justice is elected in partisan elections for staggered six-year terms. The Supreme Court is hous ...

from 1995 to 2001. He was the first Republican since

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

to have been elected to his state's highest court.

Background

With receipt of his

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree, he entered private practice. Hooper was active in the Republican Party during the days when it barely existed in Alabama. In 1964, during the

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and major general in the United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve who served as a United States senator from 1953 to 1965 and 1969 to 1987, and was the Re ...

sweep of Alabama, Hooper was elected

probate judge A probate court (sometimes called a surrogate court) is a court that has competence in a jurisdiction to deal with matters of probate and the administration of estates. In some jurisdictions, such courts may be referred to as orphans' courts o ...

Montgomery County Montgomery County may refer to: Australia * The former name of Montgomery Land District, Tasmania United Kingdom * The historic county of Montgomeryshire, Wales, also called County of Montgomery United States * Montgomery County, Alabama * Montg ...

, the first Republican to have been elected to that position since the 19th century. He continued as the probate judge, handling wills, successions, and estate transactions, until 1974, when was elected Judge of Alabama's 15th Judicial Circuit. In 1983, he returned to private practice.

1968 Senate election

In 1968, Hooper was the Republican nominee for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

for the

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vacated by retiring

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Lister Hill Joseph Lister Hill (December 27, 1894 – December 20, 1984) was an American attorney and Democratic Party politician who represented Alabama in the United States House of Representatives from 1923 to 1938 and the United States Senate from 1938 ...

. In the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

, Hooper received 201,277 votes (24 percent of the major party vote) to 638,774 (76 percent) for the Democratic nominee, former

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

James B. Allen, a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

whose views were similar to those of Hooper. Still Hooper polled 54,304 more votes in his statewide race than did his party's presidential nominee,

Richard M. Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 36th vice president under P ...

. Hooper narrowly held his home county of Montgomery and fared best among upper-income whites, having received two thirds of the vote in higher socio-economic

precincts Precinct may refer to: * An electoral precinct * A police precinct * A religious precinct * A arcade (architecture)#shopping arcades, shopping arcade or shopping mall ** A Pedestrian zone Places * A neighborhood, in Australia * A unit of public ...

in both Montgomery and Birmingham. Lower-income whites, conversely, supported Allen by a wide margin.

Supreme Court election and service

In 1994, Hooper was narrowly elected chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, with a winning margin of just 262 votes. He was not sworn in until October 20, 1995, almost nine months after his term had begun. Allies of the sitting Democratic Chief Justice, Ernest C. Hornsby, challenged the result, seeking to count approximately 2,000 absentee ballots that were unwitnessed and unsigned. In September 1995, U.S. District Judge Alex T. Howard Jr. decided that they should not be counted. His decision was upheld by the

11th Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (in case citations, 11th Cir.) is a federal appellate court over the following U.S. district courts: * Middle District of Alabama * Northern District of Alabama * Southern District ...

and a stay granted by U.S. Supreme Court Justice

Anthony Kennedy Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) is an American attorney and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirement in 2018. He was nominated to the court in 1987 by Pres ...

expired on October 14. The full court declined to hear the case on October 19, 1995, and Hooper was seated. Hooper served as chief justice until his retirement in 2001, when he was succeeded by fellow Republican

Roy Moore Roy Stewart Moore (born February 11, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer, and jurist who served as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama from 2001 to 2003 and again from 2013 to 2017, each time being removed from office for judic ...

Personal life

Perry Hooper Sr. lived in Montgomery with his wife. They have four children. Hooper's son, Perry O. Hooper Jr., also of Montgomery, is a Republican former member of the

Alabama House of Representatives The Alabama House of Representatives is the lower house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of state of Alabama. The House is composed of 105 members representing an equal number of districts, with ...

. The junior Hooper was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for the

Alabama Public Service Commission The Alabama Public Service Commission, commonly called the PSC, was established by an act of the Alabama Legislature in 1915 to primarily replace the State Railroad Commission. The PSC's responsibility was expanded in 1920 to include regulatin ...

in the

held on November 7, 2006.

George Wallace Jr. George Corley Wallace III, generally known as George Wallace Jr., (born October 17, 1951) is an American politician from the U.S. state of Alabama. He is the only son of George and Lurleen Wallace, each of whom was Democratic governor of Alabam ...

, formerly a Democrat, vacated the PSC position and ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for lieutenant governor. Hooper died at home on April 24, 2016. He was 91.Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Perry O. Hooper dies at 91

References

* Alabama Department of Archives and History.

''. Accessed April 22, 2007. * Alabama House of Representatives.

'. February 6, 2001. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hooper, Perry O. Sr. 1925 births 2016 deaths Alabama Republicans Politicians from Montgomery, Alabama Politicians from Birmingham, Alabama Military personnel from Alabama Alabama lawyers Birmingham–Southern College alumni University of Alabama School of Law alumni United States Marines Chief justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama Alabama state court judges Probate court judges in the United States Lawyers from Montgomery, Alabama Military personnel from Montgomery, Alabama 20th-century Alabama state court judges 21st-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II 20th-century Alabama politicians