James F. Ailshie

James F. Ailshie (June 19, 1868 – May 27, 1947) was an American attorney and jurist who served as a justice of the Idaho Supreme Court, alternating as chief justice with other members of the court. First elected to the court in 1902, he became the youngest chief justice in the United States at the time. During his 24 years on the court, Ailshie wrote more than 700 opinions. At the time of his death, only one opinion in which he participated had been reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Early life and education James Franklin Ailshie was born June 19, 1868, in Greene County, Tennessee, to parents George Washington Ailshie and Martha A. (Knight) Ailshie. He was the eldest of nine children, and he attended public school in Greene County. He later attended Carson College in Jefferson City, leaving in his junior year. He briefly taught school in Hutton Valley, Missouri, and in 1888 he moved to Spokane, Washington, then to Rockford where he was a school principal. In 1889, Ailshie entered Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, graduating in 1891 with a Ph.B. in philosophy and an LL.B. in law. He was admitted to practice law in Oregon, but he settled in north central Idaho at Grangeville, opening his practice in August 1891. Career Ailshie served as a regent of the University of Idaho from 1893 to 1896. He was elected to the Idaho Supreme Court for a six-year term in 1902 and reelected in 1908. When Senator Weldon Brinton Heyburn died in 1912, Ailshie ran unsuccessfully in 1913 for the seat, then filled by Kirtland I. Perky, but he lost the race to James H. Brady. Ailshie resigned his seat on the Idaho Supreme Court in 1914, a few months before his term expired. That year Ailshie moved to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and resumed his law practice. He served as vice president of the American Bar Association in 1934.