Samuel Blatchford
Blatchford circa 1893
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
In office April 3, 1882 – July 7, 1893[1]
Nominated by	Chester Arthur
Preceded by	Ward Hunt
Succeeded by	Edward White
Judge of theUnited States Circuit Court for the Second Circuit
In office March 4, 1878 – March 22, 1882
Nominated by	Rutherford Hayes
Preceded by	Alexander Johnson
Succeeded by	William Wallace
Judge of theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York
In office May 3, 1867 – March 4, 1878
Nominated by	Andrew Johnson
Preceded by	Samuel Betts
Succeeded by	William Choate
Personal details
Born	(1820-03-09)March 9, 1820 Auburn, New York, U.S.
Died	July 7, 1893(1893-07-07) (aged 73) Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.
Party	Republican
Spouse	Caroline Appleton (m. 1844)
Education	Columbia College (BA)
Signature

Samuel M. Blatchford (March 9, 1820 – July 7, 1893) was an American attorney and judge who served as anAssociate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from April 3, 1882, until his death in 1893.

Blatchford was born inAuburn, New York, on March 9, 1820. He was the eldest of five children born to Julia Ann (née Mumford) Blatchford andRichard Milford Blatchford.^[2] U.S. Army Major GeneralRichard M. Blatchford was his cousin.^[3]

Blatchfordstudied law under Seward and then entered into the private practice of law with his father and uncle.^[4] In 1854, he moved toNew York City and started a law firm, Blatchford,Seward & Griswold, now known asCravath, Swaine & Moore.^[5] He became well known for preparing summaries ofUnited States circuit court cases, serving for a time asreporter of decisions for the Circuit Court in New York, and developed a lucrative practice inadmiralty law.

On May 3, 1867, Blatchford received arecess appointment fromPresidentAndrew Johnson to a seat on theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated bySamuel Betts.^[6] Formally nominated on July 13, 1867, Blatchford was confirmed by theUnited States Senate three days later, receiving his commission the same day.^[6]

On February 15, 1878, PresidentRutherford B. Hayes promoted Blatchford to serve as Circuit Judge of theSecond U.S. Judicial Circuit to fill the vacancy caused by the death ofAlexander Smith Johnson.^[6] Blatchford was confirmed by the Senate, and received his commission, on March 4, 1878.^[6]

On March 13, 1882, Blatchford wasnominated as anassociate justice of the United States Supreme Court, by PresidentChester A. Arthur, to a seat vacated byWard Hunt,^[6] after two other candidates, SenatorGeorge F. Edmunds and former SenatorRoscoe Conkling, declined. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 22, 1882,^[7] and wassworn into office on April 3, 1882.^[1] Blatchford thus became the first person to serve at all three levels of the federal judiciary—as a District Judge, a Circuit Judge, and a Supreme Court Justice. When he was nominated for the Supreme Court, it was estimated that his personal wealth exceeded $3 million (over $90 million in 2025), mostly held in real estate.^[2]

Blatchford was an expert in admiralty law andpatent law, and authoredBlatchford and Howland's Admiralty Cases, which was considered the most complete work of its kind. During his eleven-year tenure on the High Court, he wrote 430 opinions and two dissents. His most noteworthy opinions,Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co. v. Minnesota, andBudd v. People of New York, were roundly criticized for their apparently contradictory conclusions about due process under theFourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.^[8]

Blatchford's father was a well knownattorney and friend ofDaniel Webster^[2] who served as aNew York State Assemblyman in 1855, U.S. Minister to thePapal States,^[9] and New York City Park Commissioner in 1872.^[10] After his mother's death in 1857, his father remarried to Angelica Hamilton, the daughter ofJames Alexander Hamilton and granddaughter ofAlexander Hamilton, the firstTreasury Secretary.^[11] Angelica died in 1868, and Blatchford married for the third time, to Katherine Hone.^[12]

His grandfather, also namedSamuel Blatchford, was born in England and was the first president ofRensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The younger Samuel Blatchford was educated atColumbia College, where he joined thePhilolexian Society and graduated when he was 17 years old. In 1840, he served as the private secretary to GovernorWilliam H. Seward. From 1842 to 1845, he served as the Military Secretary ofNew York.^[13] In 1844, Blatchford was married to Caroline Frances Appleton (1817–1901) in Boston. Caroline was the daughter of Eben Appleton and Sarah (née Patterson) Appleton. Together, they had one son:^[14] Samuel Appleton Blatchford (1845–1905), also a lawyer who married Wilhelmina Bogart Conger (1848–1944), daughter of Hon.Abraham B. Conger, the namesake ofCongers, New York.^[14]

On what he thought was inside information, Blatchford sold all his shares of stock on the eve of theBattle of Fort Sumter and the decline in stock prices that took place at the onset of theAmerican Civil War, thus preserving his personal fortune.^[15]

Blatchford served as a trustee ofColumbia College.

In June 1893, he was stricken with paralysis at his home inNewport, Rhode Island on Greenough Place.^[16][17] Blatchford died at his home in Newport at age 73 on July 7, 1893.^[2] After a funeral service at the All Saints' Chapel in Newport conducted by BishopHenry C. Potter (his brother-in-lawEdward Tuckerman Potter's brother),^[18] his body was transported by train to New York City where he was buried atGreenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn.^[19]

In his will, which was drawn on June 15, 1876, he left $100,000 to Rachel Bliss Beckwith and $20,000 to Cordelia F. Green. To his widow, he left the furniture and artwork in his Newport home and the income from half of his estate.^[20] His son received the other half of the income and split the realty with his mother. Upon his wife's death, one-third of her share of the realty went to Rachel Beckwith, a third to Julia Maria Potter, and the remaining third to his unmarried sister, Sophia Ethelinda Blatchford.^[20]

TheWorld War IILiberty ShipSS Samuel Blatchford was named in his honor.

• List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States

• Abraham, Henry J. (1992).Justices and Presidents: A Political History of Appointments to the Supreme Court. 3d. ed. New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-506557-3.
• Cushman, Clare (2001).The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies,1789-1995 (2nd ed.). (Supreme Court Historical Society, Congressional Quarterly Books).ISBN 978-1-56802-126-3.
• Frank, John P.; Friedman, Leon; Israel, Fred L., eds. (1995).The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions. Chelsea House Publishers.ISBN 978-0-7910-1377-9.
• Hall, Kermit L., ed. (1992).The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0-19-505835-2.
• Martin, Fenton S.; Goehlert, Robert U. (1990).The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Books.ISBN 978-0-87187-554-9.
• Urofsky, Melvin I. (1994).The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary. New York: Garland Publishing. p. 590.ISBN 978-0-8153-1176-8.

• Works by or about Samuel Blatchford at theInternet Archive

• 1820 births
• 1893 deaths
• 19th-century American politicians
• American legal writers
• Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery
• Columbia College, Columbia University alumni
• Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
• New York (state) lawyers
• New York (state) Republicans
• Politicians from Auburn, New York
• United States federal judges appointed by Andrew Johnson
• United States federal judges appointed by Chester A. Arthur
• United States federal judges appointed by Rutherford B. Hayes
• Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
• United States federal judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law
• Cravath, Swaine & Moore people

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