Supreme Court Henry Billings Brown

1 supreme court

1.1 appointment
1.2 jurisprudence

1.2.1 plessy v. ferguson
1.2.2 insular cases
1.2.3 hale v. henkel


1.3 personal life in washington, d.c.
1.4 retirement

supreme court

political cartoon showing justice brown (standing, left-center) , court


appointment

after lobbying brown , michigan congressional delegation, president benjamin harrison appointed brown, republican, supreme court of united states on december 23, 1890, seat vacated samuel f. miller. brown unanimously confirmed senate on december 29, 1890, , received commission same day. in autobiographical essay, brown commented while had been attached detroit , people, there compensate me in new sphere of activity. if duties of new office not congenial taste of district judge, position of far more dignity, better paid , infinitely more gratifying 1 s ambition.

jurisprudence

as jurist, brown against government intervention in business, , concurred majority opinion in lochner v. new york (1905) striking down limitation on maximum working hours. did, however, support federal income tax in pollock v. farmers loan & trust co. (1895), , wrote court in holden v. hardy (1898), upholding utah law restricting male miners eight-hour day.

us supreme court justices in 1896


plessy v. ferguson

brown known 1896 decision in plessy v. ferguson, in wrote majority opinion upholding principle , legitimacy of separate equal facilities american blacks , whites. in opinion, brown argued recognition of racial difference did not violate constitutional principle. long equal facilities , services available citizens, commingling of 2 races need not enforced. plessy, provided legal support system of jim crow laws, overruled court in brown v. board of education in 1954. when issued, plessy attracted relatively little attention, in late 20th century, came vilified.

insular cases

justice brown authored court s 1901 opinion in delima v. bidwell, 1 of insular cases, considering status of territories acquired u.s. in spanish–american war of 1898.

hale v. henkel

brown expounded majority powers accorded grand jury in hale v. henkel, 1906 case defendant—a tobacco company executive—refused testify grand jury on several grounds in case based upon sherman antitrust act. judgement, said among best, rendered 12 march 1906, 10 weeks before retirement.

personal life in washington, d.c.

in 1891, paid $25,000 (equivalent $666,000 in 2016) riggs family land @ 1720 16th street, nw, in washington, d.c., hired architect william henry miller, , built five-story, 18-room mansion $40,000 (equivalent $1,066,000 in 2016). live in house, later known toutorsky mansion, until death. ironically—in light of brown s racial attitudes—the house embassy of republic of congo. brown s wife caroline died in 1901. 3 years later, brown married close friend of hers, widow josephine e. tyler, survived him.

retirement

1904 card justice brown noting failing eyesight

near end of years on court, brown largely lost eyesight. retired court on may 28, 1906 @ age of 70.