Fuller Court
Fuller Court | |
---|---|
→ White Court | |
October 10, 1888 – July 4, 1910 (21 years, 267 days) | |
Seat | Old Senate Chamber Washington, D.C. |
No. of positions | 9 |
Fuller Court decisions | |
The Fuller Court refers to the
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
Matthews, Miller, and Bradley all died between 1889 and 1892, and President
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,
Timeline
Other branches
Presidents during this court included
Rulings of the Court
Major rulings of the Fuller Court include:
- Chae Chan Ping v. United States (1889): In a decision written by Justice Field, the court upheld the Scott Act (an addendum to the Chinese Exclusion Act), holding that Congress has broad powers in setting immigration policy.
- Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. (1895): In a 5–4 decision written by Chief Justice Fuller, the court struck down the Income Tax of 1894. The court ruled that the dividend, interest, and rent taxes levied by the act were unconstitutional because they constituted direct taxes that were not apportioned by state population. The court's ruling was effectively overturned by the Sixteenth Amendment.
- United States v. E. C. Knight Co. (1895): In a decision written by Chief Justice Fuller, the court blocked the government's attempt to use the Sherman Antitrust Act to prevent the American Sugar Refining Company's acquisition of E.C. Knight Co. The court ruled that manufacturing is an intrastate activity, and thus could not be regulated by the federal government.
- Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): In a 7–1 decision written by Justice Brown, the court declared that racial segregation does not violate the Equal Protection Clause so long as the "separate but equal" doctrine is followed. The decision allowed the continued existence of Jim Crow laws. Plessy was overruled by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed racial discrimination by the government.
- Allgeyer v. Louisiana (1897): In a decision written by Justice Peckham, the court established that the Due Process Clause created protections for freedom of contract. The case marked the beginning of the Lochner era, during which the court struck down numerous economic regulations.
- Takings Clause against state governments. This was the first case that incorporated a clause from the Bill of Rights, though further incorporation did not take place until the 1920s.
- United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898): In a 7–2 decision written by Justice Gray, the court held that the Citizenship Clause had established birthright citizenship even for those whose parents are not American citizens. Under Elk v. Wilkins (1884), the decision did not apply to Native Americans.
- The unincorporated territories such as Puerto Rico.
- Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock (1903): In a decision written by Justice White, the court ruled that the federal government has the power to unilaterally breach treaties made with Native American tribes. The decision allowed the federal government to take land from Native American tribes without providing compensation.
- Swift & Co. v. United States (1905): In a unanimous decision written by Justice Holmes, the court upheld the government's regulation of the "Beef Trust" under the Sherman Antitrust Act.
- Lochner v. New York (1905): In a 5–4 decision written by Justice Peckham, the court held that a state setting a maximum workweek of 60 hours for bakeries violated freedom of contract. The Lochner Era would continue until West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish (1937).
- Hodges v. United States (1906): In a 7–2 decision written by Justice Brewer, the court held that the Thirteenth Amendment does not authorize Congress to protect labor rights from racially motivated attacks such as whitecapping. Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co. (1968) later overturned the case.
- Adair v. United States (1908): In a decision written by Justice Harlan, the court struck down part of the Erdman Act and declared that bans on "yellow-dog contracts" (which forbid employees from joining unions) are unconstitutional. The court held that such bans unconstitutionally infringed on freedom of contract. The decision was largely superseded by the Norris–La Guardia Act of 1932.
- Norris–La Guardia Acteffectively overturned this decision.
- Bobbs-Merrill Co. v. Straus (1908): In a unanimous decision written by Justice Day, the court established the first-sale doctrine.
- Ex parte Young (1908): In a decision written by Justice Peckham, the court held that lawsuits against state officials in federal court do not violate sovereign immunity.
Judicial philosophy
In contrast with the Waite Court,
References
- ^ a b Galloway, Russell Jr. (1 January 1985). "The Taft Court (1921–29)". Santa Clara Law Review. 25 (1): 1–2. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
- ^ a b 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.
- ISBN 9781576079737. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
- ^ ISBN 9781610693950. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
- ^ ISBN 9781576077146. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
- ^ Pratt, Walter F. "Rhetorical Styles on the Fuller Court". The American Journal of Legal History. 24: 193–195. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
- ^ Ely, 29–30
- ^ Ely, 31
Further reading
- Abraham, Henry Julian (2008). Justices, Presidents, and Senators: A History of the U.S. Supreme Court Appointments from Washington to Bush II. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780742558953.
- Beth, Loren P. (2015). John Marshall Harlan: The Last Whig Justice. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813149851.
- Cushman, Clare (2001). The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies, 1789–1995 (2nd ed.). (Supreme Court Historical Society, ISBN 978-1-56802-126-3.
- Ely, James W. Jr. (2012). The Chief Justiceship of Melville W. Fuller, 1888-1910. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 9781611171716.
- Ely, James W. Jr. (2003). The Fuller Court: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781576077146.
- Friedman, Leon; Israel, Fred L., eds. (1995). The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions. ISBN 978-0-7910-1377-9.
- Goldstone, Lawrence (2011). Inherently Unequal: The Betrayal of Equal Rights by the Supreme Court, 1865-1903. Walker Books. ISBN 978-0802717924.
- Hall, Kermit L.; Ely, James W. Jr.; Grossman, Joel B., eds. (2005). The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195176612.
- Hall, Kermit L.; Ely, James W. Jr., eds. (2009). The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195379396.
- Hall, Timothy L. (2001). Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 9781438108179.
- Hoffer, Peter Charles; Hoffer, WilliamJames Hull; Hull, N. E. H. (2018). The Supreme Court: An Essential History (2nd ed.). University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-2681-6.
- Hoffer, WilliamJames Hull (2012). Plessy v. Ferguson: Race and Inequality in Jim Crow America. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0700618460.
- Howard, John R. (1999). The Shifting Wind: The Supreme Court and Civil Rights from Reconstruction to Brown. SUNY Press. ISBN 9780791440896.
- Irons, Peter (2006). A People's History of the Supreme Court: The Men and Women Whose Cases and Decisions Have Shaped Our Constitution (Revised ed.). Penguin. ISBN 9781101503133.
- Kens, Paul (1998). Lochner v. New York Economic Regulation on Trial. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-0919-2.
- Martin, Fenton S.; Goehlert, Robert U. (1990). The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography. Congressional Quarterly Books. ISBN 978-0-87187-554-9.
- Papke, David Ray (1999). The Pullman Case: The Clash of Labor and Capital in Industrial America. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-0953-6.
- Schwarz, Bernard (1995). A History of the Supreme Court. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195093872.
- Sparrow, Bartholomew H. (2006). The Insular Cases and the Emergence of American Empire. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-1481-3.
- Tomlins, Christopher, ed. (2005). The United States Supreme Court: The Pursuit of Justice. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0618329694.
- Urofsky, Melvin I. (1994). The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary. Garland Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8153-1176-8.
- ISBN 9780190619060.
- Yarbrough, Tinsley E. (1995). Judicial Enigma: the First Justice Harlan. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195074642.