Samuel Blatchford

:"For the university president and grandfather of Samuel Blatchford, see Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford."Infobox Judge
name = Samuel Blatchford


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office = Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court
termstart = April 3, 1882
termend = July 7, 1893
nominator = Chester A. Arthur
appointer =
predecessor = Ward Hunt
successor = Edward Douglass White
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termstart2 =
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birthdate = birth date|1820|3|9
birthplace = Auburn, New York
deathdate = death date and age|1893|07|7|1820|03|9
deathplace = Newport, Rhode Island
spouse = Caroline Frances Appleton

Samuel Blatchford (March 9, 1820–July 7, 1893) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from April 3, 1882 until his death.

Early life

Blatchford was born in Auburn, New York, where his father was a well known attorney and friend of Daniel Webster. He was educated at Columbia College, graduating when he was 17 years old. In 1840, he served as the private secretary to Governor William H. Seward.

Legal career

Blatchford studied law while working for the governor and then entered into private practice with his father and uncle. In 1854, he moved to New York City and started a law firm, Blatchford, Seward & Griswold, now known as Cravath, Swaine & Moore. He became well known for preparing summaries of United States circuit court cases, serving for a time as reporter of decisions for the Circuit Court in New York, and developed a lucrative practice in admiralty law.

In May 1867, President Andrew Johnson appointed Blatchford to be a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Eleven years later, President Rutherford B. Hayes promoted Blatchford to serve as a Circuit Court judge in New York.

In 1882, Blatchford was appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States by President Chester A. Arthur after two other candidates, Senator George F. Edmunds and former Senator Roscoe Conkling, declined. 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 became a Justice on March 13, 1882, it was estimated that his personal wealth exceeded $3 million, mostly held in real estate.

Blatchford was an expert in admiralty law and patent law, and authored "Blatchford 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", and "Budd v. People of New York", were roundly criticized for their apparently contradictory conclusions about due process under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Blatchford served as a trustee of Columbia College and enjoyed collecting calendars, almanacs and salt shakers. He married Caroline Frances Appleton in Boston in 1844. They had one son, Samuel Appleton Blatchford. Blatchford died in 1893 in Newport, Rhode Island, at age seventy-three.

References

* Judge Blatchford Dead, "New York Times", July 8, 1893.

External links