Walter Inglewood Smith

Walter Inglewood Smith (July 10, 1862 – January 27, 1922) was a United States representative from Iowa and a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and the United States Circuit Courts for the Eighth Circuit. A member of the Republican Party, he served seven terms in the United States House of Representatives during a significant period in American political and economic development at the turn of the twentieth century.

Smith was born in Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, where he attended the common schools. He pursued a legal career by reading law, a common method of legal education at the time, and was admitted to the bar in 1882. Following his admission, he entered private practice in his native Council Bluffs, building a professional reputation in the community and gaining experience that would later support his judicial and legislative service.

From 1882 until 1890, Smith practiced law in Council Bluffs. In 1890 he was appointed or elected Judge of the Fifteenth Judicial District of Iowa, a position he held for a decade, serving until 1900. His tenure on the state bench coincided with a period of rapid growth and change in Iowa, and his judicial work helped establish his standing within the Republican Party and among the legal profession in the state.

Smith entered national politics at the close of the nineteenth century. He was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-sixth United States Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Representative Smith McPherson, and on the same day was elected to the Fifty-seventh United States Congress. He was subsequently reelected to the Fifty-eighth Congress and to the four succeeding Congresses, serving continuously from December 3, 1900, to March 15, 1911. Over these seven terms in office, he represented his Iowa constituency in the House of Representatives, participated in the legislative process, and contributed to debates and policymaking during an era marked by the Progressive movement, expanding federal regulation, and evolving national economic policy. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, and he took part in the democratic process by representing the interests of his constituents in Iowa.

Smith resigned from Congress on March 15, 1911, to accept a federal judicial appointment. He had been nominated by President William Howard Taft on January 17, 1911, to a joint seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and the United States Circuit Courts for the Eighth Circuit, filling the vacancy created by the elevation of Judge Willis Van Devanter. The United States Senate confirmed his nomination on January 31, 1911, and he received his commission the same day. In this capacity, he sat on one of the nation’s important regional appellate courts, which at that time had jurisdiction over a large portion of the Midwest and Great Plains.

Smith’s federal judicial service spanned a period of structural change in the federal court system. On December 31, 1911, the United States Circuit Courts were abolished, and thereafter he served solely on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. As a circuit judge, he participated in the review of federal trial court decisions involving a wide range of civil and criminal matters, contributing to the development of federal jurisprudence in the early twentieth century.

Walter Inglewood Smith’s service on the bench continued until his death. His judicial service terminated on January 27, 1922, when he died in Council Bluffs, the city of his birth and long-time residence. He was interred in Fairview Cemetery in Council Bluffs, Iowa, closing a career that encompassed local legal practice, state judicial service, seven terms in the United States House of Representatives, and more than a decade on the federal appellate bench.