Perry O. Hooper, Sr.

Perry Oliver Hooper, Sr. (born April 8, 1925, in Birmingham, Alabama), is an American jurist who served as the twenty-seventh Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court from 1995 to 2001. He was the first Republican since Reconstruction to have been elected to his state's highest court.

Background

Hooper attended Birmingham Southern College and the University of Alabama School of Law in Tuscaloosa after service in the United States Marine Corps. After receipt of his Juris Doctor degree at UA, he entered private practice. In 1964, during the Barry Goldwater sweep of Alabama, Hooper was elected probate judge of Montgomery County, the first Republican to have been elected to that position since the 19th century. He continued as the probate judge until 1974, when was elected Circuit 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 for the open seat vacated by retiring Democrat Lister Hill. He received 201,277 votes (24 percent) to 638,774 (76 percent) for the Democratic nominee, former Lieutenant Governor James B. Allen, a conservative 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. 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 in both Montgomery and Birmingham. Lower-income whites, conversely, supported Allen by a wide margin. In eleven of the state's sixty-seven counties, Hooper failed to reach double digits. Years later, Hooper recalled that many voters "didn't know" that he was in the race: "They only knew that George Wallace was carrying the banner [for President]... People didn't dislike Nixon, they just like Wallace, who sounded... Republican," Hooper said.^[1]

Supreme Court election

In 1994, Hooper was narrowly elected Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, the first Republican in that position. He was sworn in on October 20, 1995, almost exactly nine months after his term began. Ernest C. "Sonny" Hornsby, the sitting Democrat Chief Justice whom he defeated sued in court to keep the seat. Hornsby refused to leave office until finally losing the court case. Hooper remained Chief Justice until his retirement in 2001, when fellow Republican Roy Moore, the "Ten Commandments judge," followed in the position. After an absence from the court for nine years, Moore is once again the Republican nominee for the chief justice position in the general election set for November 6, 2012.

Family life

Hooper's son, Perry O. Hooper, Jr. (born 1955), also of Montgomery, is a former Republican member of the Alabama House of Representatives. Hooper, Jr., was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for the Alabama Public Service Commission in the general election held on November 7, 2006. George Wallace, Jr., formerly a Democrat, vacated the PSC position to run unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for lieutenant governor.

Perry Hooper, Sr., is retired and resides in Montgomery with his wife, the former Marilyn Yost. In addition to Perry, Jr., they have three other sons: Walter, Conwell, and John Hooper, and nine grandchildren: Perry, III, Thomas, Davis, Neely, Holly, Wells, William, John, and Mari Conlee Hooper. Leisurely, Hooper enjoys playing golf and watching University of Alabama football.

References

• Alabama Department of Archives and History. Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justices: Perry O. Hooper, Sr.. Accessed April 22, 2007.

• Alabama House of Representatives. 2001 Resolution HJR9. February 6, 2001.

v t e Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of Alabama Clay • Lipscomb • Saffold • Hitchcock • Hopkins • Collier • Dargan • Chilton • Goldthwaite • Rice • Walker • Peck • Peters • Brickell • Stone • McClellan • Weakley • Tyson • Dowdell • Anderson • Gardner • Livingston • Heflin • Torbert • Hornsby • Hooper • Moore • Nabers • Cobb • Malone •