Stephen Johnson Field | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States | |
| In office May 20, 1863 – December 1, 1897 | |
| Nominated by | Abraham Lincoln |
| Preceded by | Seat established |
| Succeeded by | Joseph McKenna |
| 5th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California | |
| In office September 12, 1859 – May 20, 1863 | |
| Nominated by | John B. Weller |
| Preceded by | David S. Terry |
| Succeeded by | Warner Cope |
| Associate Justice of theSupreme Court of California | |
| In office October 13, 1857 – September 12, 1859 | |
| Nominated by | J. Neely Johnson |
| Preceded by | Hugh Murray |
| Succeeded by | Edwin B. Crocker |
| Member of theCalifornia State Assembly from the14th district | |
| In office 1851–1852 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | A. G. Caldwell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1816-11-04)November 4, 1816 Haddam, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Died | April 9, 1899(1899-04-09) (aged 82) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Resting place | Rock Creek Cemetery Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Education | Williams College (BA) |
| Signature | .png) |
Stephen Johnson Field (November 4, 1816 – April 9, 1899) was an Americanjurist. He was anAssociate Justice of theUnited States Supreme Court from May 20, 1863, to December 1, 1897, thesecond longest tenure of any justice. Prior to this appointment, he was the fifthChief Justice of California.
Born inHaddam, Connecticut, he was the sixth of the nine children ofDavid Dudley Field I, aCongregationalist minister, and his wife Submit Dickinson, a teacher. His family produced three other children of major prominence in 19th century America:David Dudley Field II the prominent attorney,Cyrus Field, the millionaire investor and creator of theAtlantic Cable, and Rev.Henry Martyn Field, a prominent clergyman and travel writer. He grew up inStockbridge, Massachusetts, and went toTurkey at thirteen with his sister Emilia and her missionary husband, Rev.Josiah Brewer. He received a B.A. fromWilliams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, in 1837. While attending Williams College he was one of the original Founders of theDelta Upsilon fraternity. Afterreading law inAlbany withHarmanus Bleecker and New York City with his brother David, Stephen was admitted to the bar. He practiced law with David until 1848, when he went to California during theGold Rush.[1]
Field was an uncle of future Associate JusticeDavid Josiah Brewer. Other notable relatives include Paul Stephen Field and legal scholar Anne Field.
In California, Field's legal practice boomed and he was electedalcalde, a form of mayor andjustice of the peace under the old Mexican rule of law, ofMarysville (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 theCalifornia State Assembly in 1850 to representYuba County, but he lost a race the next year for theState Senate. His successful legal practice led to his election to theCalifornia 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,David S. Terry, because Judge Terry killed a United States Senator from California (David Colbreth Broderick) in a duel and left the state.[7] Field and Terry's paths crossed again 30 years later when Field, acting in his capacity as a circuit judge of the 9thFederal Circuit Court, ruled against Terry in a convoluted divorce case (and had him sent to jail for contempt of court as well). Seeking revenge, Terry attempted to kill Field in 1889 nearStockton, California, but was instead shot dead by Field's bodyguard, U.S. MarshalDavid B. Neagle. Legal issues arising from the killing of Terry came before the Supreme Court in the 1890habeas corpus case ofIn re Neagle.[8] The Court ruled theUnited States Attorney General had authority to appoint U.S. Marshals as bodyguards to Supreme Court justices and Marshal Neagle had acted within the scope of his authority in shooting Terry. Fieldrecused himself from the case.[9]
The number of seats on theUnited States Supreme Court was expanded from nine to ten in March 1863, as a result of theTenth Circuit Act.[10] This gave PresidentAbraham Lincoln an opportunity tonominate a newassociate justice, which he did on March 6, 1863.[11] Seeking to effect both a regional and political balance on the Court, Lincoln selected Field, awesterner andUnionist Democrat.[12] Field was confirmed by theUnited States Senate on March 10, 1863,[11] and took thejudicial oath of office on May 20, 1863.[13]
Field insisted on breakingJohn Marshall's record of 34 years on the court, even when he was no longer able to handle the workload. His colleagues asked him to resign due to him being intermittentlysenile,[14] but he refused; at one pointJohn Marshall Harlan urged Field to retire, reminding Field that he had been part of a committee to urge JusticeRobert Grier to retire. Finding Field dozing in the robing room, Harlan later related what happened next: “The old man listened, gradually became alert, and finally, with his eyes blazing with the fire of youth, he burst out, ‘Yes, and a dirtier day’s work I never did in my life.'”[15]
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.[16] Field would become the last veteran of both theTaney Court and theChase Court to remain on the bench. He would remain thelongest serving member of the Court until his record was surpassed byWilliam O. Douglas, who served from 1939 to 1975.
He died in Washington, D.C., on April 9, 1899, and was buried there in theRock Creek Cemetery.[17]
Field wrote 544 opinions, more than any other justice save forSamuel Miller,John P. Stevens,[18] andClarence Thomas[19] (by comparison, Chief Justice Marshall wrote 508 opinions in his 34 years on the court).[20] According to journalistBrian Doherty, "Field was one of the pioneers of the concept (beloved by manylibertarian legal thinkers) ofsubstantive due process – the notion that the due process protected by theFourteenth Amendment applied not merely to procedures but to the substance of laws as well."[21] Field's vocal advocacy ofsubstantive due process was illustrated in his dissents to theSlaughter-House Cases andMunn v. Illinois. In theSlaughter-House Cases, Justice Field's dissent focused on the Privileges or Immunities clause, not the Due Process clause (which was important in the dissent of Justice Bradley as well as the dissent of Justice Swayne). In bothMunn v. Illinois andMugler v. Kansas, Justice Field based his dissent on the protection of property interests by the Due Process clause. One of Field's most notable opinions was his majority opinion inPennoyer v. Neff, which set the standard onpersonal jurisdiction for the next 100 years. His views on due process were eventually adopted by the court's majority after he left the Supreme Court. In other cases he helped end theincome tax (Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Company), limitedantitrust law (United States v. E.C. Knight Company), and limited the power of theInterstate Commerce Commission. He also joined the majority inPlessy v. Ferguson that upheldracial segregation. Field dissented in the landmark caseStrauder v. West Virginia, where the majority opinion held that the exclusion of African-Americans from juries violated the Fourteenth Amendment'sEqual Protection Clause.
Early in his career, Field wrote opinions against California's laws discriminating against the Chinese immigrants to that state.[22] 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 reLook Tin Sing, he declared that children born in U.S. jurisdictions are U.S. citizens regardless of ancestry.[23] 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 inThe Chinese Exclusion Case,Chae Chan Ping v. United States, 130 U.S. 581 (1889), and in his dissent inChew Heong v. United States, 112 U.S. 536 (1884).
In November 1885, Field served as an original trustee ofLeland Stanford Junior University.[24]
| California Assembly | ||
|---|---|---|
| New constituency | Member of theCalifornia State Assembly from the14th 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 |
Taney Court (1836–1864) | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Justices |  | ||||||||||||||
| Decisions |
| ||||||||||||||
| Statutes | |||||||||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
