William Cather Hook

Education and career

Born on September 24, 1857, in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, Hook received a Bachelor of Laws in 1878 from the Washington University School of Law. He entered private practice in Leavenworth, Kansas from 1878 to 1899. He was city attorney for Leavenworth. He was city legal adviser for Leavenworth from 1889 to 1895.

District Court service

Hook was nominated by President William McKinley on January 28, 1899, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Kansas vacated by Judge Cassius Gaius Foster. Hook's nomination was opposed by railroad companies, who were displeased that Hook had successfully won judgments against them while in private practice. Nevertheless, he was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 31, 1899, and received his commission the same day. His service terminated on December 1, 1903, due to his elevation to the Eighth Circuit.

Court of Appeals service

Hook was nominated by President Theodore Roosevelt on November 10, 1903, to a joint seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and the United States Circuit Courts for the Eighth Circuit vacated by Judge Henry Clay Caldwell. He was confirmed by the Senate on November 17, 1903, and received his commission the same day. On December 31, 1911, the Circuit Courts were abolished and he thereafter served only on the Court of Appeals. His service terminated on August 11, 1921, due to his death in Sayner, Wisconsin.

Failed consideration for the Supreme Court

On February 6, 1912, President William Howard Taft announced that he would nominate Hook to fill the vacancy on the United States Supreme Court that had been caused by the death of Justice John Marshall Harlan. Opposition was raised, however, by leaders of the NAACP, the Washington Bee, and other African-American newspapers and organizations. Concerned parties discussed Hook's decision in upholding the constitutionality of an Oklahoma Jim Crow law discriminating against African American passengers on trains crossing the state line between Kansas and Oklahoma. The railroad interests also continued their opposition to Hook, as did large corporations displeased with his rulings in antitrust cases. A prominent critic of the nomination was Governor of Nebraska Chester Hardy Aldrich. Mahlon Pitney was selected by the President in place of Hook.