Stephen Johnson Field

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Stephen Johnson Field
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California
In office
September 12, 1859 – May 20, 1863
Nominated byJohn B. Weller
Preceded byDavid S. Terry
Succeeded byWarner Cope
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California
In office
October 13, 1857 – September 12, 1859
Nominated byJ. Neely Johnson
Preceded byHugh Murray
Succeeded byEdwin B. Crocker
Member of the California State Assembly
from the 14th district
In office
1851–1852
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byA. G. Caldwell
Personal details
Born(1816-11-04)November 4, 1816
Haddam, Connecticut, U.S.
DiedApril 9, 1899(1899-04-09) (aged 82)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting placeRock Creek Cemetery
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Sue Virginia Swearingen
​
​
(m. 1859)​
EducationWilliams College (BA)
Signature

Stephen Johnson Field (November 4, 1816 – April 9, 1899) was an American

Chief Justice of California
.

Early life and education

Born in

Gold Rush.[1]

Field was an uncle of future Associate Justice

David Josiah Brewer
. Other notable relatives include Paul Stephen Field and legal scholar Anne Field.

Career in California politics and law

In California, Field's legal practice boomed and he was elected alcalde, a form of mayor and justice of the peace under the old Mexican rule of law, of Marysville (curiously, he was elected Alcalde just three days after his arrival in Marysville).[2] Because the Gold Rush city could not afford a jail, and it cost too much to transport prisoners to San Francisco, Field implemented[clarification needed] the whipping post, believing that without such a brutal implement many in the rough and tumble city would be hanged for minor crimes. The voters sent him to the California State Assembly in 1850 to represent Yuba County, but he lost a race the next year for the State Senate. His successful legal practice led to his election to the California Supreme Court in 1857, serving six years.[3]

Field was determined and vengeful when others disagreed with him, and he easily made enemies. An opponent of his wrote that Field's life would be "found to be one series of little-mindedness, meanlinesses, of braggadocio, pusillanimity, and contemptible vanity."[4]

While serving on the California Supreme Court, Field had a special coat made with pockets large enough to hold two pistols so that he could fire the weapons inside the pockets.[5] In 1858 he was challenged to a duel by a fellow Judge (William T. Barbour) but at the dueling ground, neither man fired his gun.[6]

In 1859 Field replaced the former chief justice of the California Supreme Court,

recused himself from the case.[9]

U.S. Supreme Court justice

Stephen Johnson Field

The number of seats on the

associate justice, which he did on March 6, 1863.[11] Seeking to affect both a regional and political balance on the Court, Lincoln selected Field, a westerner and Unionist Democrat.[12] Field was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 10, 1863,[11] and took the judicial oath of office on May 20, 1863.[13]

Field insisted on breaking

senile,[14] but he refused. In March 1896, he wrote what would be his final opinion on behalf of the Court, but remained on the bench for another twenty months, finally retiring on December 1, 1897.[15] Field would become the last veteran of both the Taney Court and the Chase Court to remain on the bench. He would remain the longest serving member of the Court until his record was surpassed by William O. Douglas
, who served from 1939 to 1975.

He died in Washington, D.C. on April 9, 1899, and was buried there in the Rock Creek Cemetery.[16]

Jurisprudence

Field wrote 544 opinions, more than any other justice save for

United States v. E.C. Knight Company), and limited the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission. He also joined the majority in Plessy v. Ferguson that upheld racial segregation. Field dissented in the landmark case Strauder v. West Virginia, where the majority opinion held that the exclusion of African-Americans from juries violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause
.

He pushed the decision in Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Co., 118 U.S. 394 (1886), which is a corporate law case of the United States Supreme Court concerning taxation of railroad properties. The case is most notable for a headnote stating that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment grants constitutional protections to corporations. This culminated in the 2010 Citizens United v. FEC decision that unleashed virtually unlimited secret corporate money into Federal elections.

Field's gravesite

Early in his career, Field wrote opinions against California's laws discriminating against the Chinese immigrants to that state.[21] Serving as an individual jurist in district court, he notably struck down the so-called 'Pigtail Ordinance' in 1879, which was regarded as discriminating against Chinese, making him unpopular with the Californian public. In his 1884 district court ruling, In re Look Tin Sing, he declared that children born in U.S. jurisdictions are U.S. citizens regardless of ancestry.[22] However, as a member of the U.S. Supreme Court, he penned opinions infused with racist anti-Chinese-American rhetoric, most notably in his majority opinion in The Chinese Exclusion Case, Chae Chan Ping v. United States, 130 U.S. 581 (1889), and in his dissent in Chew Heong v. United States, 112 U.S. 536 (1884).

Academic work

In November 1885, Field served as an original trustee of Leland Stanford Junior University.[23]

See also

References

  1. ^ McCloskey, Robert Green (1951). American Conservatism in the Age of Enterprise, 1865-1910. Harper & Row. pp. 86–92.
  2. ^ Tocklin, Adrian M. (1997). "Pennoyer v. Neff: The Hidden Agenda of Stephen J. Field". Seton Hall Law Review: 104.
  3. ^ McCloskey (1951), pp. 96–97.
  4. ^ "Stephen Johnson Field". Archived from the original on March 3, 2020. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  5. ^ Tocklin (1997), p. 102.
  6. ^ Tocklin (1997), p. 105.
  7. ^ Johnson, J. Edward (1963). History of the California Supreme Court: The Justices 1850–1900 (PDF). Vol. 1. San Francisco: Bender Moss Co. pp. 65–72. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 17, 2018. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
  8. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5818.2005.00102.x
    .
  9. ^ "In the Matter of David Neagle". U.S. Marshals Service. Archived from the original on February 13, 2020. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  10. ^ "Landmark Legislation: Tenth Circuit". Washington, D.C.: Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  11. ^ a b McMillion, Barry J. (January 28, 2022). Supreme Court Nominations, 1789 to 2020: Actions by the Senate, the Judiciary Committee, and the President (PDF) (Report). Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  12. ^ Sandefur, Timothy (November 4, 2010). "Happy birthday, Stephen J. Field!". Sacramento, California: Pacific Legal Foundation. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  13. ^ "Justices 1789 to Present". Washington, D.C.: Supreme Court of the United States. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  14. ^ Morris, Jeffrey B. (1981). "The Era of Mellville Weston Fuller". Supreme Court Historical Society 1981 Yearbook. Supreme Court Historical Society. Archived from the original on October 2, 2006.
  15. ^ Garrowt, David J. (Autumn 2000). "Mental Decrepitude on the U.S. Supreme Court: The Historical Case for a 28th Amendment". The University of Chicago Law Review. 67 (4): 1009. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  16. ^ Swisher, Carl Brent (1930). Stephen J. Field: Craftsman of the Law. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution. p. 449. Retrieved February 18, 2022 – via HathiTrust.
  17. ^ "A Look Back at Justice Stevens' Most Important Opinions - Law360". Archived from the original on May 7, 2021. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
  18. ^ "Clarence Thomas (Supreme Court) - Ballotpedia". Archived from the original on April 15, 2021. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
  19. ^ Tocklin (1997), n. 174.
  20. Doherty, Brian (2007). Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement
    . p. 28.
  21. ^ McCloskey (1951), pp. 109–111.
  22. ^ "In re Look Tin Sing (Ruling)" (PDF). libraryweb.uchastings.edu. Federal Reporter 21 F. 905, Circuit Court, D. California, September 29, 1884. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 4, 2020. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
  23. ^ "Leland Stanford Jr. University". Sonoma Democrat. November 28, 1885. p. 1. Archived from the original on August 16, 2017. Retrieved August 15, 2017 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.

Further reading

External links

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Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Field, Stephen Johnson".
California Assembly
New constituency Member of the California State Assembly
from the 14th district
1851–1852 		Succeeded by
A. G. Caldwell
Legal offices
Preceded by
Chief Justice of California

1859–1863 		Succeeded by
New seat Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
1863–1897 		Succeeded by
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