Howard Lee Bickley (May 3, 1871 – March 4, 1947) was an American lawyer and judge. Originally from

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, he relocated to

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

and became chief justice of the

New Mexico Supreme Court The New Mexico Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is established and its powers defined by Article VI of the New Mexico Constitution. It is primarily an appellate court which reviews civil and criminal decisi ...

Life and career

Bickley was born in

Mexico, Missouri , image_skyline = Audrain County Missouri Courthouse.JPG , imagesize = 250px , image_caption = The Audrain County Courthouse in downtown Mexico. , image_flag = , image_seal = ...

.. He graduated from the

University of Missouri School of Law The University of Missouri School of Law (Mizzou Law or MU Law) is the law school of the University of Missouri. It is located on the university's main campus in Columbia, forty minutes from the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City. The sc ...

in 1895, and then returned to Mexico to practice law.. He was elected prosecuting attorney for Audrain County on the Democratic ticket. He moved to Raton, New Mexico in 1904, and practiced law there until he became a judge. He was elected to the New Mexico Supreme Court as a Democrat, and began his service January 1, 1925. He was re-elected in 1932 and 1940. He served as chief justice three times during his tenure, the last time from January 1, 1947 until his death.. He administered the oath of office to four

governors A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...

.. In both 1930 when Edward Terry Sanford died, and in 1932 when

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (March 8, 1841 – March 6, 1935) was an American jurist and legal scholar who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932.Holmes was Acting Chief Justice of the Un ...

retired from the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

, Bickley was on President

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...

’s list of possible replacements,Nemacheck, Christine L.; ''Strategic Selection: Presidential Nomination of Supreme Court Justices from Herbert Hoover Through George W. Bush'', pp. 147-148 although the seats ultimately went to

Owen J. Roberts Owen Josephus Roberts (May 2, 1875 – May 17, 1955) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1930 to 1945. He also led two Roberts Commissions, the first of which investigated the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the seco ...

and

Benjamin N. Cardozo Benjamin Nathan Cardozo (May 24, 1870 – July 9, 1938) was an American lawyer and jurist who served on the New York Court of Appeals from 1914 to 1932 and as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1932 until his dea ...

. Bickley died of a sudden heart attack in his home in Santa Fe the night of March 4, 1947. A

freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, his funeral services were conducted on March 6 at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in Santa Fe.. State offices were closed the same day for an hour and a half in his memory. He was buried in Fairmont Cemetery in Raton, next to his wife.

Personal life

He married Ruth K. Phillips in 1897 in Mexico, Missouri; Ruth died in 1910 and he did not remarry. They had one daughter, Frances.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bickley, Howard Lee 1871 births 1947 deaths Chief Justices of the New Mexico Supreme Court Justices of the New Mexico Supreme Court Missouri Democrats Missouri lawyers New Mexico Democrats New Mexico lawyers People from Mexico, Missouri People from Raton, New Mexico University of Missouri alumni