Richard Smith Whaley

Chief Justice, Court of Claims

Appointed by President Herbert Hoover in 1930 and confirmed by voice vote, Richard Smith Whaley was a Chief Justice on the Court of Claims. He earned a law degree from University of Virginia School of Law in 1897. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived

1874–1951

Appointed by

Herbert Hoover, 1930

Confirmed

by voice vote

Education

University of Virginia Law 1897

Succeeded

Samuel Jordan Graham

Succeeded by

John Marvin Jones

Federal judicial service

Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own. A voice vote means the chamber approved aloud. No senator-by-senator tally is recorded.

Confirmation vote

Voice vote

The Senate approved this confirmation aloud, with no senator-by-senator tally recorded. Recorded roll-call votes begin in 1989.

Education

Judicial Record

In our data, Whaley authored 2 published opinions for the court (1944–1945). Most cited: Newbury v. United States (10 citations).

Published, precedential opinions from the CourtListener corpus. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.

Selected opinions

Showing the 2 most-cited of 2 authored opinions in our data. “Cited” is inbound citations across the CourtListener corpus. Case links open the ruling’s full text (CourtListener) or its page here; read the methodology and verify against the primary source.

Questions & answers

Who appointed Richard Smith Whaley?

President Herbert Hoover appointed Richard Smith Whaley to the Court of Claims in 1930.

Was Richard Smith Whaley appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Richard Smith Whaley was appointed by President Herbert Hoover, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Richard Smith Whaley's confirmation vote?

Richard Smith Whaley was confirmed by voice vote on June 2, 1930. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Which court was Richard Smith Whaley on?

Richard Smith Whaley was a Chief Justice on the Court of Claims.

21 years on the Court of Claims. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).