The influx of miners to the Idaho mines quickly forced its separation from Washington Territory and created the need for its own government and courts. Like appointments to courts of other territories in the West, those to the Idaho territorial Supreme Court were made on the basis of political credentials. Each of Lincoln's appointees was a Republican and had close ties to the president.
Loyalty seems to have been more important than legal expertise.
Political Connections Aleck Smith , one of the first three judges, was a lucky man. Born In Jacksonville, Illinois about 1838, he went west in the 1850s to Washington Territory where he served a short time as a prosecuting attorney. His good fortune came through marriage. Mrs. Smith was the daughter of the surveyor-general of Washington Territory, Anson Henry, one of Lincoln's close friends. Smith's inexperience and reputation for hard-drinking raised the ire of many in the territory, so much so that he was removed from office in 1866.