Background
Hopkins, Richard J. was born on April 4, 1873 in Jefferson City, Missouri, United States. Son of William Robert and Elizabeth (Murphy) Hopkins.
Hopkins, Richard J. was born on April 4, 1873 in Jefferson City, Missouri, United States. Son of William Robert and Elizabeth (Murphy) Hopkins.
University of Kansas, 1893-1896. Bachelor of Laws, Northwestern University, 1901.
Born in Jefferson City, Missouri, Hopkins received an Bachelor of Laws from Northwestern University School of Law in 1901. He was in private practice in Chicago, Illinois from 1901 to 1906. He was in private practice in Garden City, Kansas from 1906 to 1913.
He was the 19th Lieutenant Governor of Kansas as a Republican from 1911 to 1912 serving under Governor Walter R. Stubbs.
He was a City attorney of Garden City, Kansas from 1913 to 1918. He was the state attorney general of Kansas from 1919 to 1923.
He was an Associate justice of the Supreme Court of Kansas from 1923 to 1929. Hopkins was a federal judge on the United States District Court for the District of Kansas.
Hopkins was nominated by President Herbert Hoover on October 17, 1929, to a seat vacated by George T. McDermott.
He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 19, 1929, and received his commission the same day. Hopkins served in that capacity until his death.
Member Kansas House of Representatives, 1909 (speaker pro tem. of House). Member American and Kansas State bar associations, Sigma Nu.
Married May Cathcart, September 16, 1909 (died November 18, 1918). Married second, Lida Hafford, January 22, 1935. Children: Isabelle, Richard Cathcart, Daniel Roberts.