Home County: Chariton
Term of Service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: September 1935 – March 1937
Judge John Caskie (J.C.) Collet was born on May 25, 1898, in Keytesville, Missouri.[i] He attended public schools in Keytesville, Mendon, and Salisbury.[ii] After studying three years at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, Collet was appointed as a private secretary for Missouri Congressman William W. Rucker in February 1917.[iii]
Collet began studying law in 1919, and joined his father’s office a few years later, when he was admitted to Missouri Bar in 1921.[iv] He served as Salisbury City Attorney from 1922 to 1924[v] and as County Prosecutor for Chariton County, from 1925 to 1929.[vi]
The year 1930 marked the end of Collet’s private legal practice, when he began his service as assistant counsel of the State Highway Commission (until 1933) and as Chairman of the Public Service Commission from 1933 to 1935.[vii] On September 2, 1935, Collet was appointed to the Supreme Court of Missouri by Governor Guy B. Park.[viii] On November 3, 1936, he was elected to serve a ten-year term.[ix] Judge Collet served with the Supreme Court of Missouri until his nomination by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, on March 9, 1937, to the United States District Court, for both the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri.[x] Judge Collet was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 15, 1937.[xi] From October 1945 to August 1946, he took temporary leave to work as administrator of the Office of Economic Stabilization, toward the conclusion of World War II.[xii] When the Office of Economic Stabilization became part of the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion in 1946, he remained part of the organization as a consultant.[xiii]
Judge Collet served with the U.S District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri until he was nominated by President Truman on April 30, 1947, and confirmed by U.S. Senate on July 8, 1947, as a Judge with the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.[xiv] Judge Collet served for eight years with the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, until his death.[xv]
Judge John Caskie (J.C.) Collet died on December 5, 1955.[xvi] He was fifty-seven years old.[xvii]
[i] Dwight H. Brown, Secretary of State, Dwight H. Brown, publisher, Official Manual State of Missouri, for Years Nineteen Thirty-Five and Nineteen Thirty-Six, (Jefferson City, MO: Midland Printing Company, 1948), 119. See also: The Federal Judicial Center, “Collet, John Caskie,” information courtesy of Federal Judicial Center website, accessed on July 16, 2019. Copy of document in file at the Supreme Court of Missouri law library.
[ii] Dwight H. Brown, Secretary of State, Dwight H. Brown, publisher, Official Manual State of Missouri, for Years Nineteen Thirty-Five and Nineteen Thirty-Six, (Jefferson City, MO: Midland Printing Company, 1948), 119.
[iii] Dwight H. Brown, Secretary of State, Dwight H. Brown, publisher, Official Manual State of Missouri, for Years Nineteen Thirty-Five and Nineteen Thirty-Six, (Jefferson City, MO: Midland Printing Company, 1948), 119.
[iv] Dwight H. Brown, Secretary of State, Dwight H. Brown, publisher, Official Manual State of Missouri, for Years Nineteen Thirty-Five and Nineteen Thirty-Six, (Jefferson City, MO: Midland Printing Company, 1948), 119. See also: Theodore J. Fetter, A History of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, vol. 62, (Washington, DC: Judicial Conference of the United States Bicentennial Committee, 1977), 67.
[v] The Federal Judicial Center, “Collet, John Caskie,” information courtesy of Federal Judicial Center website, accessed on July 16, 2019. Copy of document in file at the Supreme Court of Missouri law library.
[vi] Theodore J. Fetter, A History of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, vol. 62, (Washington DC: Judicial Conference of the United States Bicentennial Committee) 1977), 67. See also: Dwight H. Brown, Secretary of State, Dwight H. Brown, publisher, Official Manual State of Missouri, for Years Nineteen Thirty-Five and Nineteen Thirty-Six, (Jefferson City, MO: Midland Printing Company, 1948), 119.
[vii] Theodore J. Fetter, A History of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (Washington DC: Judicial Conference of the United States Bicentennial Committee, 1977), 67.
[viii] Theodore J. Fetter, A History of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (Washington DC: Judicial Conference of the United States Bicentennial Committee, 1977), 67. See also: Dwight H. Brown, Secretary of State, Dwight H. Brown, publisher, Official Manual State of Missouri, for Years Nineteen Thirty-Five and Nineteen Thirty-Six, (Jefferson City, MO: Midland Printing Company, 1948), 119.
[ix] Dwight H. Brown, Secretary of State, Dwight H. Brown, publisher, “Vote by Precincts for President, State Officers, and Judges of Supreme Court, November 3, 1936,” State of Missouri, Official Manual, for Years Nineteen Thirty-Seven and Nineteen Thirty-Eight, (Jefferson City, MO: Midland Printing Company, 1938), 335.
[x] The Federal Judicial Center, “Collet, John Caskie,” information courtesy of Federal Judicial Center website, accessed on July 16, 2019. Copy of document in file at the Supreme Court of Missouri law library. See also: Theodore J. Fetter, A History of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (Washington DC: Judicial Conference of the United States Bicentennial Committee, 1977), 67.
[xi] The Federal Judicial Center, “Collet, John Caskie,” information courtesy of Federal Judicial Center website, accessed on July 16, 2019. Copy of document in file at the Supreme Court of Missouri law library.
[xii] “Collection Description,” John Caskie Collet Papers, 1918-1957, information courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library website, accessed on July 16, 2019.
[xiii] Theodore J. Fetter, A History of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (Washington DC: Judicial Conference of the United States Bicentennial Committee, 1977), 68.
[xiv] The Federal Judicial Center, “Collet, John Caskie,” information courtesy of Federal Judicial Center website, accessed on July 16, 2019. Copy of document in file at the Supreme Court of Missouri law library. See also: Theodore J. Fetter, A History of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (Washington DC: Judicial Conference of the United States Bicentennial Committee, 1977), 68.
[xv] Theodore J. Fetter, A History of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (Washington DC: Judicial Conference of the United States Bicentennial Committee, 1977), 68.
[xvi] Theodore J. Fetter, A History of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (Washington DC: Judicial Conference of the United States Bicentennial Committee, 1977), 68.
[xvii] Theodore J. Fetter, A History of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (Washington DC: Judicial Conference of the United States Bicentennial Committee, 1977), 68.
Biographical information authored by Ms. Anna Theroff, 2019, Washington University, St. Louis.