May 23,1939 –April 1,1957
Walter Augustus Huxman (February 16,1887 –June 25,1972) was an American attorney,politician,and jurist who served as the 27th governor of Kansas and a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Huxman was born in Pretty Prairie,Kansas, [1] and grew up on the family farm attending the local schools. He became a school teacher and from 1907 to 1909 he was principal of the Castleton Grade school and in 1910,principal of the Pretty Prairie Grade School. He attended Kansas State Normal School (now Emporia State University Teachers College) for two years and the University of Kansas School of Law where he received a Bachelor of Laws in 1914. [1]
When he was admitted to the Kansas Bar Association,Huxman formed a partnership with Charles S. Fulton in Hutchinson,Kansas. As well as being in private practice from 1919 to 1937,he was an assistant county attorney of Kansas from 1915 to 1919,a city attorney from 1919 to 1921,and a member of the Kansas State Tax Commission from 1931 to 1932. [1] An accomplished keynote speaker and chairman at the 1936 Democratic State Convention,Huxman was drafted as gubernatorial candidate.
He won the 1936 Kansas gubernatorial election and was sworn in as the governor of Kansas on January 11,1937. Huxman's election as governor marked a reflection on his Republican predecessor,Alf Landon,who did not seek reelection as governor as he was instead the 1936 Republican presidential nominee.
Landon had failed to carry Kansas in the presidential race which would indicate that Huxman would have defeated Landon had Landon ran for re-election as governor.
During Huxman's tenure as governor,World War I soldier bonuses were paid,unemployment compensations benefits were approved,and driver's license regulations were amended. [2] Huxman ran for re-election in 1938 but was defeated by Republican Payne Ratner.
Huxman was nominated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 24,1939,to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit vacated by Judge Robert L. Williams. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 17,1939,and received his commission on May 23,1939. He assumed senior status on April 1,1957. His service terminated on June 25,1972,due to his death. [1] He was interred at Penwell-Gabel Cemetery and Mausoleum in Topeka,Shawnee County,Kansas.[ citation needed ]
Huxman was a member of the three-judge federal trial court in Brown v. Board of Education ,and authored the court's opinion. Despite his personal objections to the ruling in Plessy ,he abided by that precedent,based on the premise that the right to overrule the Supreme Court is reserved to the Supreme Court itself. [3]
On January 21,1915,he married Eula E. Biggs and they had one daughter,Ruth.[ citation needed ]
A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great value on deciding cases according to consistent principled rules,so that similar facts will yield similar and predictable outcomes,and observance of precedent is the mechanism by which that goal is attained. The principle by which judges are bound to precedents is known as stare decisis. Common-law precedent is a third kind of law,on equal footing with statutory law and subordinate legislation in UK parlance –or regulatory law.
In the United States,a state supreme court is the highest court in the state judiciary of a U.S. state. On matters of state law,the judgment of a state supreme court is considered final and binding in both state and federal courts.
Alfred Mossman Landon was an American oilman and politician who served as the 26th governor of Kansas from 1933 to 1937. A member of the Republican Party,he was the party's nominee in the 1936 presidential election,and was defeated in a landslide by incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
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Taylor v. Beckham,178 U.S. 548 (1900),was a case heard before the Supreme Court of the United States on April 30 and May 1,1900,to decide the outcome of the disputed Kentucky gubernatorial election of 1899. The litigants were Republican gubernatorial candidate William S. Taylor and Democratic lieutenant gubernatorial candidate J. C. W. Beckham. In the November 7,1899,election,Taylor received 193,714 votes to Democrat William Goebel's 191,331. This result was certified by a 2–1 decision of the state's Board of Elections. Goebel challenged the election results on the basis of alleged voting irregularities,and the Democrat-controlled Kentucky General Assembly formed a committee to investigate Goebel's claims. Goebel was shot on January 30,1900,one day before the General Assembly approved the committee's report declaring enough Taylor votes invalid to swing the election to Goebel. As he lay dying of his wounds,Goebel was sworn into office on January 31,1900. He died on February 3,1900,and Beckham ascended to the governorship.
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