Bushrod Washington

Infobox Judge
name = Bushrod Washington


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office = Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court
termstart = February 4 1799
termend = November 26 1829
nominator = John Adams
appointer =
predecessor = James Wilson
successor = Henry Baldwin
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birthdate = birth date|1762|6|5|mf=y
birthplace = Westmoreland County, Virginia
deathdate = death date and age|1829|11|26|1762|6|5|mf=y
deathplace = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
spouse =

Bushrod Washington (June 5, 1762 – November 26, 1829) was a U.S. Supreme Court associate justice and the nephew of George Washington. While serving on the Marshall Court, he authored the opinion of "Corfield v. Coryell", 6 Fed. Cas. 546 (C.C.E.D. Penn. 1823), while riding circuit as an Associate Justice. In "Corfield", Washington listed several rights traditionally viewed to be "fundamental." This list of fundamental rights has profoundly influenced later Constitutional jurisprudence, particularly with respect to the Privileges and Immunities Clause.

Washington was nominated for the court after another Federalist, John Marshall, turned John Adams down and endorsed him. He became an associate justice on February 4, 1799, at the age of 36. After Marshall became Chief Justice two years later, he voted with Marshall on all but three occasions (one being "Ogden v. Saunders"). In 1816, he helped create the American Colonization Society and held the position as its first president for his entire life. Justice Washington was an owner (and seller) of slaves. [Dunne, Gerald. [http://www.supremecourthistory.org/04_library/subs_volumes/04_c16_e.html Bushrod Washington and The Mount Vernon Slaves] , "Supreme Court Historical Society 1980 Yearbook". Retrieved 2007-02-14.]

Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, and graduated from the College of William and Mary, where he was one of the first members of Phi Beta Kappa. His uncle George Washington sponsored Bushrod's legal studies with fellow Founder James Wilson. He inherited Mount Vernon from George after the latter died in 1799. [Lossing, Benson J. (1871). "The Home of Washington; Or, Mount Vernon and Its Associations, Historical, Biographical, and Pictorial" (Hartford, Conn.: A.S. Hale & Company), p. 350.]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/legal_entity/11/biography Biography] from the OYEZ Project
* [http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0851532.html Biography (Infoplease)]