Taney Court
| Taney Court | |
|---|---|
|
→ Roger Taney | |
| March 28, 1836 – October 12, 1864 (28 years, 198 days) | |
| Seat | Old Supreme Court Chamber (1836–1860) Old Senate Chamber (1860–1864) Washington, D.C. |
| No. of positions | 7 (1836–1837) 9 (1837–1863) 10 (1863–1864) |
| Taney Court decisions | |
 | |
The Taney Court refers to the
citizens.[3] However, the Taney Court's decisions regarding economic issues and separation of powers set important precedents, and the Taney Court has been lauded for its ability to adapt regulatory law to a country undergoing remarkable technological and economic progress.[4]
Membership
Taney was appointed Chief Justice by President
Peter Vivian Daniel in 1841 after the death of Barbour. Thompson died in 1843, but President John Tyler was unsuccessful in his attempts to fill the seat. However, Tyler was able to nominate Samuel Nelson right before leaving office, and soon after, President James K. Polk successfully nominated Levi Woodbury a short time after taking office, replacing Thompson and Story. Polk also appointed Robert Cooper Grier, replacing Baldwin; the vacancy caused by Baldwin's death is the longest in Supreme Court history.[5]
Millard Fillmore appointed Benjamin Curtis to replace Woodbury in 1851; Curtis is the only Whig-appointed Justice in American history and is the last justice who was not appointed by a member of the Democratic or Republican parties. President Franklin Pierce appointed John Archibald Campbell in 1853, replacing McKinley. Curtis resigned from the court following the 1857 Dred Scott decision, and President James Buchanan appointed Nathan Clifford as his replacement. At the start of the Civil War, Campbell resigned from the court to serve as a Confederate official. McLean and Daniel also died around the same time. In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Noah Haynes Swayne (the first Republican-appointed justice in history), Samuel Freeman Miller, David Davis to replace them. Lincoln also appointed Stephen Johnson Field to a newly created seat. Taney died in 1864, and Lincoln appointed Salmon P. Chase as the new Chief Justice. The Taney Court is notable for its long vacancies, as the three longest vacancies in court history all occurred during Taney's tenure as Chief Justice.[5]
Timeline
Note: + denotes new seat
Bar key: Madison appointee Monroe appointee Jackson appointee Van Buren appointee Tyler appointee Polk appointee Fillmore appointee Pierce appointee Buchanan appointee Lincoln appointee
Other branches
Presidents during this court included Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, and Abraham Lincoln. Congresses during this court included 24th through the 38th United States Congresses.
Rulings of the Court
The Taney Court issued several major rulings during its tenure, including:[6]
- Charles River Bridge Company, owned another bridge on the river, and sued the state, arguing that Massachusetts was breaking a charter it had given the plaintiff in the 18th century. The court held that there was no violation of the Contract Clause, and also set an important precedent for a state's ability to promote the general welfare of its people.[7]
- non-justiciable political question, and that it is Congress's role to determine whether a state's government qualifies as "republican."[8]
- Cooley v. Board of Wardens (1852): In a decision delivered by Justice Curtis, the court upheld a Pennsylvania law requiring vessels leaving Philadelphia to use a local pilot or pay a fine. In the decision, the court set an important precedent regarding the Commerce Clause, charting a middle course between federal and state power. The decision gave states the ability to make some laws affecting interstate commerce, using a balancing test to determine whether state interests outweighed federal interests in uniform laws.[9]
- territories. The decision was strongly condemned by opponents of slavery, and was largely overturned by the Fourteenth Amendment.
- Ableman v. Booth (1859): In a unanimous decision written by Chief Justice Taney, the court held that federal courts have final say over issues of federal law, and thus state courts have no right to nullify federal court decisions regarding federal law.
For a full list of decisions by the Taney Court, see lists of United States Supreme Court cases by volume, volumes 36 through 68.
See also
References
- ^ Schwartz, Bernard (1993). A History of the Supreme Court. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 71–72.
- ^ Schwartz, 73-74
- ^ "Roger Taney". The Supreme Court. PBS. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
- ISBN 9781576073681. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
- ^ a b Desilver, Drew (26 February 2016). "Long Supreme Court vacancies used to be more common". Pew. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
- ^ Schwartz, 69-105
- ^ Schwartz, 75-77
- ^ Schwartz, 95-96
- ^ Schwartz, 84-88
Further reading
Works on the Taney Court
- Allen, Austin (2010). Origins of the Dred Scott Case: Jacksonian Jurisprudence and the Supreme Court, 1837-1857. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 9780820336640.
- Huebner, Timothy S. (2010). "Roger Taney and the Slavery Issue: Looking Beyond—and Before—Dred Scott". Journal of American History. 97 (1): 39–62. JSTOR 40662816.
- Huebner, Timothy S. (2003). The Taney Court, Justice Rulings and Legacy. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1-57607-368-8.
- Maltz, Earl M. (2009). Slavery and the Supreme Court, 1825-1861. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 9780700616664.
- Simon, James F. (2006). Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney: Slavery, Secession, and the President's War Powers (Paperback ed.). Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-9846-2.
- Streichler, Stuart (2005). Justice Curtis in the Civil War Era: At the Crossroads of American Constitutionalism. University of Virginia Press. ISBN 9780813923420.
Other relevant works
- 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.
- Cushman, Clare (2001). The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies, 1789–1995 (2nd ed.). (Supreme Court Historical Society, ISBN 1-56802-126-7.
- Friedman, Leon; Israel, Fred L., eds. (1995). The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions. ISBN 0-7910-1377-4.
- 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.
- ISBN 978-0-19-507894-7.
- 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.
- Martin, Fenton S.; Goehlert, Robert U. (1990). The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography. Congressional Quarterly Books. ISBN 0-87187-554-3.
- McGinty, Brian (2009). Lincoln and the Court. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674040823.
- 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 0-8153-1176-1.
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