In 1875, the Wyoming Territorial Legislature attempted to prevent the Congressional confirmation of Wyoming Supreme Court Associate Justice William Ware Peck. Peck was appointed during a U.S. Senate recess and began to hear cases before his confirmation was finalized. At the time, each of the three Supreme Court justices sat in their own district rather than together. Justice Peck served in District 3, composed of Uinta and Sweetwater Counties, which made up all of Western Wyoming Territory. His scrutiny and disallowance of a number of bills for expenses presented to the court, as well as his quick and thorough clearing of the court backlog and the jail, set many influential citizens in the district against him. These individuals prospered on the inefficiencies of the court. They took their greivances to the Territorial Legislature and passed a lopsided and unsubstantiated memorial to congress to this effect, accusing Justice Peck of negligence and extreme expenses and asking for his nomination to be withdrawn.

Thanks in large part to the lobbying of Republicans from Wyoming in Washington, D.C., Justice Peck was confirmed by Congress. Unsatisfied by this, plans were made to "sagebrush" Justice Peck. As had been done in other Western territories, the Wyoming was judicially redistricted by the Legislature under the influence of Sweetwater and Uinta County delegates. The new division placed District 3 in Northern Wyoming comprised entirely of the newly created but unorganized Pease (later Johnson) and Crook Counties. With more sagebrush than permanent white settlement in these areas, there would be almost no work for a justice. Governor John Thayer signed the bill rather than vetoing it, rationalizing the decision by saying the veto would have been over ridden given its bipartisan support in the Legislature. This decision was held up as the reason President Hayes removed Thayer as Territorial governor.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate voted to disallow the redistricting but the repeal was held up in the Judiciary Committee and never enacted. With no hope of being restored to his previous district, unable to secure a new position, and without district duties of his own, Justice Peck spent his last three years on the bench writing opinions for the other two associate justices. He was not reappointed when his term expired.

See also Larson, T.A., "Exiling a Wyoming Judge," Wyoming Law Journal, volume X, number 3 (Spring 1956), p171-179.