Fuller Court

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Supreme Court of the United States
Fuller Court
Melville Weston Fuller Chief Justice 1908.jpg
October 10, 1888 – July 4, 1910
(21 years, 267 days)
Seat Old Senate Chamber
Washington, D.C.
No. of positions 9
Fuller Court decisions
Seal of the United States Supreme Court.svg

The Fuller Court refers to the Supreme Court of the United States from 1888 to 1910, when Melville Fuller served as the eighth Chief Justice of the United States. Fuller succeeded Morrison R. Waite as Chief Justice after the latter's death, and Fuller served as Chief Justice until his death, at which point Associate Justice Edward Douglass White was nominated and confirmed as Fuller's replacement.

Contents

During the era of the Fuller Court, the Judiciary Act of 1891 was passed, easing the burden of the Supreme Court by creating the United States courts of appeals. The Fuller Court was the first of three consecutive conservative courts, and established the Lochner era. [1]

Membership

The Fuller court began in October 1888, when the Senate confirmed President Grover Cleveland's nomination of Melville Fuller as the successor to Chief Justice Waite. On Fuller's accession to the office, the Fuller Court consisted of associate justices: Samuel Freeman Miller, Stephen Johnson Field, Joseph P. Bradley, John Marshall Harlan, Stanley Matthews, Horace Gray, Samuel Blatchford, and Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar II  who had taken office earlier that year.

Matthews, Miller, and Bradley all died between 1889 and 1892, and President Benjamin Harrison appointed David Josiah Brewer, Henry Billings Brown, and George Shiras Jr. to replace them. Lamar and Blatchford both died in 1893, and President Harrison appointed Howell Edmunds Jackson while President Cleveland appointed Edward Douglass White as their replacements. White was Cleveland's third nominee to the seat that had been held by Blatchford, following the Senate's rejections of William B. Hornblower and Wheeler Hazard Peckham. Jackson died in 1895, and was replaced by another Cleveland appointee, Rufus Wheeler Peckham, brother of Wheeler Peckham.

Field retired in 1897, and was replaced by Attorney General Joseph McKenna, the lone appointment made by William McKinley. Gray died in 1902 and Shiras retired in 1903; President Theodore Roosevelt successfully nominated Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. and William R. Day to replace them. Brown retired in 1906, and Roosevelt appointed William Henry Moody to the court. Peckham died in 1909 and was succeeded by Horace Harmon Lurton, an appointee of President William Howard Taft.

After Fuller's death, Fuller was replaced as Chief Justice by Associate Justice Edward Douglass White, who was elevated by President Taft. Between the death of Fuller and the elevation of White, Charles Evans Hughes joined the court as the successor to David Josiah Brewer, who died in 1910. Moody also retired in 1910, shortly before the elevation of White due to a prolonged illness.

Timeline

Fuller Court
Bar key:
  Lincoln appointee  Grant appointee  Hayes appointee  Garfield appointee  Arthur appointee  Cleveland appointee  B. Harrison appointee  McKinley appointee  T. Roosevelt appointee  Taft appointee

Other branches

Presidents during this court included Grover Cleveland (two non-consecutive terms), Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, and William Howard Taft. Congresses during this court included 50th through the 61st United States Congresses.

Rulings of the Court

Major rulings of the Fuller Court include:

Judicial philosophy

In contrast with the Waite Court, [2] the Fuller Court used the Due Process Clause to strike down several economic regulations in defense of a laissez faire economy. [1] [3] The court struck down several federal regulatory laws and sought to maintain the autonomy of the states, but it also struck down state laws that it saw as impediments to interstate commerce. [4] The Fuller Court ruled more favorably to the government in other cases, most notably Plessy, and granted the government wide latitude in administering colonial territories. [2] The court also declined to extend due process protections into the sphere of criminal procedure. [4] Like many other courts prior to 1941, the Fuller Court had strong consensual norms, which helped to keep the number of dissents to a minimum. [5] No clear ideological blocs emerged during Fuller's tenure, [5] but Justices Holmes, Day, Gray, and Brown tended to favor upholding laws, and Justices Shiras, Harlan, White, and Peckham were the most willing to overrule state legislatures. [6] Justice Harlan was notable for his many dissents, earning him the moniker of the "Great Dissenter." [5] The ideological homogeneity was a product of an era in which Republican presidents dominated, and the lone Democratic president (Cleveland) shared the pro-business views of most Republicans. [7] Fuller himself was regarded as a talented administrator generally in agreement with the court's philosophy, but not a dominant intellectual force. [8]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melville Fuller</span> Chief justice of the United States from 1888 to 1910

Melville Weston Fuller was an American politician, attorney, and jurist who served as the eighth chief justice of the United States from 1888 until his death in 1910. Staunch conservatism marked his tenure on the Supreme Court, exhibited by his tendency to support unfettered free enterprise and to oppose broad federal power. He wrote major opinions on the federal income tax, the Commerce Clause, and citizenship law, and he took part in important decisions about racial segregation and the liberty of contract. Those rulings often faced criticism in the decades during and after Fuller's tenure, and many were later overruled or abrogated. The legal academy has generally viewed Fuller negatively, although a revisionist minority has taken a more favorable view of his jurisprudence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waite Court</span> Period of the US Supreme Court from 1874 to 1888

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hughes Court</span> Period of the US Supreme Court from 1930 to 1941

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stone Court</span> Period of the US Supreme Court from 1941 to 1946

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vinson Court</span> Period of the US Supreme Court from 1946 to 1953

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taft Court</span> Period of the US Supreme Court from 1921 to 1930

The Taft Court refers to the Supreme Court of the United States from 1921 to 1930, when William Howard Taft served as Chief Justice of the United States. Taft succeeded Edward Douglass White as Chief Justice after the latter's death, and Taft served as Chief Justice until his resignation, at which point Charles Evans Hughes was nominated and confirmed as Taft's replacement. Taft was also the nation's 27th president (1909–13); he is the only person to serve as both President of the United States and Chief Justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Court (justices)</span> Period of the US Supreme Court from 1910 to 1921

The White Court refers to the Supreme Court of the United States from 1910 to 1921, when Edward Douglass White served as Chief Justice of the United States. White, an associate justice since 1894, succeeded Melville Fuller as Chief Justice after the latter's death, and White served as Chief Justice until his death a decade later. He was the first sitting associate justice to be elevated to chief justice in the Court's history. He was succeeded by former president William Howard Taft.

References

  1. 1 2 Galloway, Russell Jr. (1 January 1985). "The Taft Court (1921–29)". Santa Clara Law Review. 25 (1): 1–2. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  2. 1 2 Currie, David P. (1985). "The Constitution in the Supreme Court: The Protection of Economic Interests, 1889–1910". University of Chicago Law Review. 52: 325–326. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  3. Shoemaker, Rebecca (2004). The White Court: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy. ABC-CLIO. pp. 32–33. ISBN   9781576079737 . Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  4. 1 2 Finkelman, Paul (15 January 2014). The Supreme Court: Controversies, Cases, and Characters from John Jay to John Roberts [4 Volumes]. ABC-CLIO. pp. 423–424. ISBN   9781610693950 . Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 Ely, James W. (2003). The Fuller Court: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy. ABC-CLIO. pp. 27–28. ISBN   9781576077146 . Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  6. Pratt, Walter F. "Rhetorical Styles on the Fuller Court". The American Journal of Legal History. 24: 193–195. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  7. Ely, 29–30
  8. Ely, 31

Further reading