Willis Van Devanter was prominent in Wyoming Republican politics in the late nineteenth century. As a young attorney in Cheyenne, he defended the infamous gunman, Tom Horn.
In 1889, Van Devanter was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Wyoming Territorial Supreme Court. He was only thirty years old. It was the beginning of his meteoric rise to a position on the highest court in the land.
After a stint as a federal circuit judge, Van Devanter was nominated to become an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court by President William Howard Taft. A conservative justice, Van Devanter was known for his expertise in land and water rights. He served for 26 years on the court. In his later years, he wrote few opinions. Some said he had become too frail for the job, but in reality, he suffered from writer’s block. His oral arguments were “clear as glass” and full of finesse.
Despite his many years working in Washington D.C., Van Devanter maintained a connection to Wyoming through his longstanding friendship with Wind River Reservation missionary John Roberts.
Learn more in the Lewis Gould papers at UW’s American Heritage Center.