William Paul Peek (June 5, 1904 – April 7, 1987) was an American attorney, Democratic

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

. Peek practiced law in southern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

prior to his election in 1936 to the

California Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The Asse ...

, where he served as

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

during the 1939 session. He was appointed Secretary of State in 1940 and then to the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

, in December 1942, where he served for 20 years. In 1962, Governor

Pat Brown Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown (April 21, 1905 – February 16, 1996) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 32nd governor of California from 1959 to 1967. His first elected office was as district attorney for San Francisco, and he w ...

appointed Peek to the

California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...

. Justice Peek retired from the bench in 1966, but continued to work as a consulting attorney and

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

. He died in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

.State of California Courts official site
accessed 10/07/2006

Biography

Early years

Born in

West Union, Iowa West Union is a city in Fayette County, Iowa, United States. The population was 2,490 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Fayette County. History Originally called Knob Prairie, the community was founded by William Wells ...

, the son of William M. Peek, he moved to California at age 6. He attended

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

and the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

before obtaining his legal education at

Southwestern University School of Law Southwestern Law School is a private law school in Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and enrolls nearly 1,000 students. Its campus includes the Bullocks Wilshire building, an art deco National Register o ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. He married Elizabeth Nash in 1930. Peek was admitted to the

State Bar of California The State Bar of California is California's official attorney licensing agency. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law, investigating complaints of professional misconduct, prescribing appropriate disciplin ...

in 1930. He practiced law in Long Beach and Los Angeles and was a member of the Long Beach

Junior Chamber of Commerce The United States Junior Chamber, also known as the Jaycees, JCs or JCI USA, is a leadership training, service organization and civic organization for people between the ages of 18 and 40. It is a branch of Junior Chamber International (JCI). ...

(president, 1935) and the State Junior Chamber of Commerce (vice-president, 1936).Regents of the University of California Biographies
accessed 10/07/2006.

Career

In 1936, Peek was elected to the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The A ...

from the 71st district, in Los Angeles County, where he served until 1940. He worked with Senator

Culbert Olson Culbert Levy Olson (November 7, 1876 – April 13, 1962) was an American lawyer and politician. A Democratic Party member, Olson was involved in Utah and California politics and was elected as the 29th governor of California from 1939 to 1943. ...

to oppose

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolled bill, enrolling, enactment of a bill, enacting, or promulgation, promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous Government, governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law i ...

sponsored by the administration of Republican Governor

Frank Merriam Frank Finley Merriam (December 22, 1865 – April 25, 1955) was an American Republican politician who served as the 28th governor of California from June 2, 1934 until January 2, 1939. Assuming the governorship at the height of the Great Depress ...

to treat oil on state lands in Long Beach and

Huntington Beach Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 during the 2020 census, maki ...

in a manner favored by the oil industry. "It looks very much like we're turning the oil pool over to private interests lock, stock and barrel," Peek said. At the start of his second term in the State Assembly, the Democratic-majority State Assembly elected Peek as Speaker (replacing William Moseley Jones who hadn't sought reelection in 1938). Peek's candidacy was strongly supported by his friend and patron, Governor

Culbert L. Olson Culbert Levy Olson (November 7, 1876 – April 13, 1962) was an American lawyer and politician. A United States Democratic Party, Democratic Party member, Olson was involved in Utah and California politics and was elected as the List of Governo ...

. As Speaker, Peek promoted a variety of liberal policies to lessen the impact of the Depression on Californians. His close alliance with the Governor alienated a number of moderate and conservative Democrats, who allied themselves with Republicans to elect ordon Hickman Garlandas Speaker in 1940. Peek was appointed Secretary of State by Democratic Governor

in 1940, after the death of the long-time Republican incumbent, Frank C. Jordan. He did not win the general election in 1942, when Republican Frank M. Jordan won back the office that his father had held. After Jordan won the 1942 election, Governor Olson appointed Peek to the

California Court of Appeal The California Courts of Appeal are the state intermediate appellate courts in the U.S. state of California. The state is geographically divided along county lines into six appellate districts.

's Third Appellate District in Sacramento. He served as associate justice from January 1943 to October 1961 and as Presiding Justice from October 1961 to December 1962. Peek was the author of the 1951 appellate decision overturning California's loyalty oath. According to the

Daily Bruin The ''Daily Bruin'' is the student newspaper at the University of California, Los Angeles. It began publishing in 1919, the year UCLA was founded. The ''Daily Bruin'' distributes about 6,000 copies across campus each school day. It also publis ...

, the Court ruled that The Regents' action to require faculty members to sign an affirmation of non-membership in any subversive organization was a violation of the State Constitution and "That the pledge is the highest loyalty that can be demonstrated by any citizen, and that the exacting of any other test of loyalty would be antithetical to our fundamental concept of freedom.... ny other decision wouldapprove that which from the beginning of our government has been denounced as the most effective means by which one special brand of political or economic philosophy can entrench and perpetuate itself to the eventual exclusion of all others . . ." Any "more inclusive" test of loyalty would be the "forerunner of tyranny and oppression," the document added. Peek was appointed Associate Justice of the

by Governor

in 1962. He retired from the bench in 1966. After retiring from the Supreme Court, Peek practiced law in Sacramento, with the firm of Wilke & Fleury.

Appointments, boards and memberships

University of California Board of Regents The Regents of the University of California (also referred to as the Board of Regents to distinguish the board from the corporation it governs of the same name) is the governing board of the University of California (UC), a state university sys ...

, ''ex officio'' member, 1939 - 1940. * Chairman, Democratic State Central Committee, 1939-40. * Delegate to Democratic National Convention from California, 1940.The Political Graveyard
accessed 10/07/2006 * Member, Judicial Council of California, 1946-50. Trustee,

McGeorge School of Law University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law is a private, American Bar Association (ABA)-approved law school in the Oak Park neighborhood of the city of Sacramento, California. It is part of the University of the Pacific and is located on t ...

, Sacramento.

References

External links