 Previously, in 1938 he was a candidate in the Republican primary for Oregon's third congressional district, and in 1940 was a delegate to the Republican National Convention.Then on November 16, 1950, Walter Tooze was appointed by Oregon Governor Douglas McKay to replace justice John O. Bailey on the Oregon Supreme Court after Bailey resigned his post.Tooze then won a full six-year term that same year and won re-election in 1956.