Robert Cook Bell (November 1, 1880 – March 17, 1964) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the District of Minnesota The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota (in case citations, D. Minn.) is the United States district court, federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Minnesota. Its two primary courthouses are in Minneapolis ...

Education and career

Born in Harrisonville,

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, Bell received a

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from the

University of Missouri School of Law The University of Missouri School of Law (Mizzou Law or MU Law) is the law school of the University of Missouri. It is located on the university's main campus in Columbia, forty minutes from the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City. The s ...

in 1908. He was in private practice in

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, Missouri from 1908 to 1916. He was a special assistant to the

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in the

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in Minnesota from 1916 to 1918, then in

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until 1920, and then in Missouri again in 1921. He returned to private practice in Detroit Lakes,

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

from 1921 to 1933, serving as counsel to the Red Lake Indians of Minnesota from 1927 to 1933, and to the Pillager Indians of Minnesota from 1930 to 1933. He was also a member of the

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from 1928 to 1933 and was a

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.Minnesota Legislators: Past & Present-Robert Cook Bell
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Federal judicial service

On June 8, 1933, Bell was nominated by President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

to a seat on the

vacated by Judge William Alexander Cant. Bell was confirmed by the

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on June 10, 1933, and received his commission on June 13, 1933. He assumed senior status on May 1, 1961, serving in that capacity until his death on March 17, 1964.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Robert C. 1880 births 1964 deaths People from Detroit Lakes, Minnesota People from Harrisonville, Missouri University of Missouri School of Law alumni Minnesota lawyers Missouri lawyers Democratic Party Minnesota state senators Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota United States district court judges appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt 20th-century members of the Minnesota Legislature