# Perry Hooper Sr.
> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Perry_Hooper_Sr.
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Perry_Hooper_Sr..md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Hooper_Sr.
> Source revision: 1354056368
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
{{Short description|American judge}}
{{more citations needed|date=April 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image = Chief Justice Perry O. Hooper, Sr. First Republican Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.jpg
| caption = Hooper in 1997
| office = 27th Chief Justice of the [Alabama Supreme Court](/source/Alabama_Supreme_Court)
| term_start = October 20, 1995
| term_end = January 15, 2001
| predecessor = [Ernest C. Hornsby](/source/Ernest_C._Hornsby)
| successor = [Roy Moore](/source/Roy_Moore)
| office2 = Circuit Judge, Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in [Montgomery County, Alabama](/source/Montgomery_County%2C_Alabama)
| term_start2 = 1974
| term_end2 = 1983
| predecessor2 =
| office3 = Montgomery County Probate Judge
| term_start3 = 1965
| term_end3 = 1974
| birth_name = Perry Oliver Hooper
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|4|8}}
| birth_place = [Birmingham, Alabama](/source/Birmingham%2C_Alabama), U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2016|4|24|1925|4|8}}
| death_place = Montgomery, Alabama, U.S.
| party = [Republican](/source/Republican_Party_(United_States))
| occupation =
| parents = Ernest and Mary Lou Perry Hooper
| spouse = Marilyn Yost Hooper
| children = 4, including [Perry Hooper Jr.](/source/Perry_Hooper_Jr.)
| alma_mater = {{plain list|
*[Birmingham-Southern College](/source/Birmingham-Southern_College)
*[University of Alabama](/source/University_of_Alabama) ([JD](/source/Juris_Doctor))
}}
| branch = [United States Marine Corps](/source/United_States_Marine_Corps)
| rank =
| footnotes =
}}
'''Perry Oliver Hooper Sr.''' (April 8, 1925 – April 24, 2016) was an American [jurist](/source/jurist) who served as the 27th [chief justice](/source/chief_justice) of the [Alabama Supreme Court](/source/Alabama_Supreme_Court) from 1995 to 2001. He was the first [Republican](/source/Republican_Party_(United_States)) since [Reconstruction](/source/Reconstruction_era_in_the_United_States) to have been elected to his state's highest court.
==Background==
With receipt of his [Juris Doctor](/source/Juris_Doctor) 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](/source/Barry_Goldwater) sweep of Alabama, Hooper was elected [probate judge](/source/probate_judge) of [Montgomery County](/source/Montgomery_County%2C_Alabama), 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](/source/United_States_Senate) for the [open seat](/source/open_seat) vacated by retiring [Democrat](/source/Democratic_Party_(United_States)) [Lister Hill](/source/Lister_Hill). In the [general election](/source/general_election), Hooper received 201,277 votes (24 percent of the major party vote) to 638,774 (76 percent) for the Democratic nominee, former [Lieutenant Governor](/source/Lieutenant_Governor_of_Alabama) [James B. Allen](/source/James_Allen_(U.S._senator)), a [conservative](/source/Conservatism_in_the_United_States) 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](/source/Richard_M._Nixon). 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](/source/election_precinct) 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.[{{Cite book|title=Courting Votes in Alabama|last=Johnson|first=Winthrop|publisher=Prescott Press, Inc.|year=1999|isbn=0-933451-41-5|location=Lafayette, Louisiana|page=250}}] Allies of the sitting Democratic Chief Justice, [Ernest C. Hornsby](/source/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.](/source/Alex_T._Howard_Jr.) decided that they should not be counted. His decision was upheld by the [11th Circuit Court of Appeals](/source/11th_Circuit_Court_of_Appeals) and a stay granted by U.S. Supreme Court Justice [Anthony Kennedy](/source/Anthony_Kennedy) expired on October 14. The full court declined to hear the case on October 19, 1995, and Hooper was seated.[{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/22/us/chief-justice-takes-office-in-alabama.html|title=Chief Justice Takes Office In Alabama|work=New York Times|date=October 22, 1995}}]
Hooper served as chief justice until his retirement in 2001, when he was succeeded by fellow Republican [Roy Moore](/source/Roy_Moore).
==Personal life==
Perry Hooper Sr. lived in Montgomery with his wife. They have four children.[{{Cite web |url=http://archives.state.al.us/judicial/hooper.html |title=Alabama Supreme Court Justices: Perry O. Hooper Sr. |access-date=2016-04-25 |archive-date=2016-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303173440/http://www.archives.state.al.us/judicial/hooper.html |url-status=dead }}] Hooper's son, [Perry O. Hooper Jr.](/source/Perry_O._Hooper_Jr.), also of Montgomery, is a Republican former member of the [Alabama House of Representatives](/source/Alabama_House_of_Representatives). The junior Hooper was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for the [Alabama Public Service Commission](/source/Alabama_Public_Service_Commission) in the [general election](/source/general_election) held on November 7, 2006. [George Wallace Jr.](/source/George_Wallace_Jr.), 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.[[http://www.waff.com/story/31803474/former-alabama-supreme-court-chief-justice-perry-hooper-dies-at-91 Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Perry O. Hooper dies at 91] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508195706/http://www.waff.com/story/31803474/former-alabama-supreme-court-chief-justice-perry-hooper-dies-at-91 |date=2016-05-08 }}]
{{Portal bar|United States|Law|Politics|Conservatism}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
* Alabama Department of Archives and History. ''[http://www.archives.state.al.us/judicial/hooper.html Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justices: Perry O. Hooper Sr.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923174841/http://www.archives.state.al.us/judicial/hooper.html |date=2015-09-23 }}''. Accessed April 22, 2007.
* Alabama House of Representatives. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20060707011018/http://www.legislature.state.al.us/SearchableInstruments/2001RS/Resolutions/HJR9.htm 2001 Resolution HJR9]''. February 6, 2001.
{{s-start}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[James D. Martin](/source/James_D._Martin)}}
{{s-ttl|title=[Republican](/source/Republican_Party_(United_States)) nominee for [U.S. Senator](/source/List_of_United_States_senators_from_Alabama) from [Alabama](/source/Alabama)
([Class 3](/source/Classes_of_United_States_senators))|years=[1968](/source/1968_United_States_Senate_election_in_Alabama)}}
{{s-vac|next=George W. Nichols}}
{{s-legal}}
{{s-bef|before=[Ernest C. Hornsby](/source/Ernest_C._Hornsby)}}
{{s-ttl|title=[Chief Justice](/source/Chief_Justice) of the
[Supreme Court of Alabama](/source/Supreme_Court_of_Alabama)|years=1995–2001}}
{{s-aft|after=[Roy Moore](/source/Roy_Moore)}}
{{s-end}}
{{AlabamaChiefJustices}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hooper, Perry O. Sr.}}
Category:1925 births
Category:2016 deaths
Category:Alabama Republicans
Category:Politicians from Montgomery, Alabama
Category:Politicians from Birmingham, Alabama
Category:Military personnel from Alabama
Category:Alabama lawyers
Category:Birmingham–Southern College alumni
Category:University of Alabama School of Law alumni
Category:United States Marines
Category:Chief justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama
Category:Probate court judges in the United States
Category:Lawyers from Montgomery, Alabama
Category:Military personnel from Montgomery, Alabama
Category:20th-century Alabama state court judges
Category:21st-century American judges
Category:20th-century American lawyers
Category:United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II
Category:20th-century Alabama politicians
---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Perry Hooper Sr.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Hooper_Sr.) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Hooper_Sr.?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.