David Josiah Brewer

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David Josiah Brewer
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
In office December 18, 1889 – March 28, 1910
Nominated by	Benjamin Harrison
Preceded by	Stanley Matthews
Succeeded by	Charles Evans Hughes
Judge of the United States Circuit Court for the Eighth Circuit
In office March 31, 1884 – December 18, 1889
Nominated by	Chester Arthur
Preceded by	George McCrary
Succeeded by	Henry Caldwell
Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court
In office 1870–1884
Personal details
Born	(1837-06-20)June 20, 1837 Smyrna, Ottoman Empire (now İzmir, Turkey)
Died	March 28, 1910(1910-03-28) (aged 72) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Louise Landon ​ ​ (m. 1861; died 1898)​ Emma Mott ​ (m. 1901)​
Children	4
Education	Yale University (BA) Albany Law School (LLB)

David Josiah Brewer (June 20, 1837 – March 28, 1910) was an American attorney and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States for 20 years.

Early life[]

Mrs David Josiah Brewer

Elizabeth and Fannie Brewer, daughters of David Josiah Brewer

Brewer was born to American missionaries Emilia Field Brewer and Rev. Josiah Brewer, who at the time of his birth were running a school for Greeks in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire; Emilia Brewer's brother Stephen Johnson Field, a future Supreme Court colleague of Brewer, was living with the couple at the time.^[1] His parents returned to the United States in 1838 and settled in Connecticut. Brewer attended college at Wesleyan University (1851–1854), where he was a member of the Mystical 7 Society, and he afterward attended Yale College, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1856.^[2][3][4] While at Yale, Brewer was a classmate of Chauncey Depew and Henry Billings Brown, and was "greatly influenced by the political scientist-protestant minister Theodore Dwight Woolsey."^[1] After graduation, Brewer read law for one year in the office of his uncle David Dudley Field,^[1] then enrolled at Albany Law School in Albany, New York, graduating in 1858.

Career[]

Upon graduating from law school, Brewer moved to Kansas City, Missouri and after attempting to start a law practice, left for Colorado in search of gold, returning empty-handed in 1859 to nearby Leavenworth, Kansas.^[1] He was named Commissioner of the Federal Circuit Court in Leavenworth in 1861. He left that court to become a judge to the Probate and Criminal Courts in Leavenworth in 1862, and then changed courts again to become a judge to the First Judicial District of Kansas in 1865. He left that position in 1869 and became city attorney of Leavenworth. He was then elected to the Kansas Supreme Court in 1870, taking office the following January, where he served for 14 years.^[1]

8th Circuit[]

On March 25, 1884, Brewer was nominated by President Chester A. Arthur to the United States circuit court for the Eighth Circuit, to a seat vacated by George Washington McCrary. This court later became the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Brewer was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 31, and received commission the same day.

Supreme Court of the United States[]

Brewer's Supreme Court nomination

After 28 years on the bench, Brewer was nominated by Benjamin Harrison to the United States Supreme Court on December 4, 1889, to a seat vacated by Stanley Matthews.^[1] Brewer was confirmed by the Senate on December 18, and received commission the same day, joining a court that included S. J. Field, his uncle. He served on the court for 20 years, until his death in 1910, being the last serving Supreme Court Justice appointed by President Harrison. In this regard, University of Texas professor and Supreme Court historian Lucas Powe has noted: "Brewer was one of the most influential justices [on] the court at the time. He was a vigorous defender of minority rights. In one case, he argued for stronger labor protections for women, while in other opinions he argued passionately for the rights of marginalized Chinese and Japanese immigrants."^[5][6][7][8]

Brewer was an active member of the Supreme Court, writing often in both concurring and dissenting opinions. He was, in most cases, a moderate conservative. He was a major contributor to the doctrine of substantive due process, arguing that certain activities are entirely outside government control.^{[citation needed]} In his time he frequently sided with the Court's majorities that struck down property rights restrictions.

Brewer temporarily took a leave from his Supreme Court duties to serve as president of the U.S. Commission on the Boundary Between Venezuela and British Guiana,^[1] established by Congress to arbitrate in the Venezuela Crisis of 1895.

In April 1896, due to the unexpected death of his daughter, Brewer left for his Leavenworth home on the day that Plessy v. Ferguson was argued before the Court, and did not participate in that 7-1 decision.^[9][10] However, "[a]s a judge in Reconstruction era Kansas, he had authored one of the first judicial opinions upholding the right of an African-American citizen to vote in a general election, and as the superintendent of schools in Leavenworth, he had helped establish the first schools for blacks in the state."^[11]

In 1904, he served as president of the held in conjunction with that year's Louisiana Purchase Exposition.^[1] In 1906, Brewer was one of the 30 founding members of the Simplified Spelling Board, founded by Andrew Carnegie to make English easier to learn and understand through changes in the English language.^[12]

Notable opinions[]

Brewer was the author of the unanimous opinion of the Court in Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States (143 U.S. 457, 36 L.Ed. 226, 12 S. Ct. 511 February 29, 1892), which addressed a dispute over an employment contract between an Anglican priest and the titular church.

Brewer was the author of the unanimous opinion of the Court in Muller v. Oregon (1908) in support of a law restricting working hours for women. He was also the author of In re Debs, upholding federal injunctions to suppress labor strikes. Along with Justice Harlan, Brewer dissented in Giles v. Harris (1903), a case challenging grandfather clauses as applied to voting rolls.

Bibliography[]

• Brewer, David J. (1897). The Pew to the Pulpit. New York City: Fleming H. Revell. Retrieved 2010-10-16.
• Brewer, David J., ed. (1899). The World's Best Orations : From the Earliest Period to the Present Time. Ten volumes. St Louis, Missouri: Ferd. P. Kaiser. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
• Brewer, David J. (1905). American Citizenship. New York City: Charles Scribner's Sons. Retrieved 2010-10-16.
• Brewer, David J. (1905). The United States: A Christian Nation. Philadelphia: John C. Winston. Retrieved 2010-10-16.
• Brewer, David J. (1910). The Mission of the United States in the Cause of Peace. Boston: International School of Peace. Retrieved 2010-10-16.

See also[]

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

References[]

General

Specific

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to David Josiah Brewer.

Wikisource has original works written by or about: David Josiah Brewer

• Works by David Josiah Brewer at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about David Josiah Brewer at Internet Archive

show   Supreme Court of the United States

The Fuller Court Chief Justice: Melville Weston Fuller (1888–1910) 1890: S. F. Miller S. J. Field J. P. Bradley J. M. Harlan H. Gray S. Blatchford L. Q. C. Lamar II D. J. Brewer 1891–1892: S. J. Field J. P. Bradley J. M. Harlan H. Gray S. Blatchford L. Q. C. Lamar II D. J. Brewer H. B. Brown 1892–1893: S. J. Field J. M. Harlan H. Gray S. Blatchford L. Q. C. Lamar II D. J. Brewer H. B. Brown Geo. Shiras Jr. 1893: S. J. Field J. M. Harlan H. Gray S. Blatchford D. J. Brewer H. B. Brown Geo. Shiras Jr. H. E. Jackson 1894–1895: S. J. Field J. M. Harlan H. Gray D. J. Brewer H. B. Brown Geo. Shiras Jr. H. E. Jackson E. D. White 1896–1897: S. J. Field J. M. Harlan H. Gray D. J. Brewer H. B. Brown Geo. Shiras Jr. E. D. White R. W. Peckham 1898–1902: J. M. Harlan H. Gray D. J. Brewer H. B. Brown Geo. Shiras Jr. E. D. White R. W. Peckham J. McKenna 1902–1903: J. M. Harlan D. J. Brewer H. B. Brown Geo. Shiras Jr. E. D. White R. W. Peckham J. McKenna O. W. Holmes 1903–1906: J. M. Harlan D. J. Brewer H. B. Brown E. D. White R. W. Peckham J. McKenna O. W. Holmes Wm. R. Day 1906–1909: J. M. Harlan D. J. Brewer E. D. White R. W. Peckham J. McKenna O. W. Holmes Wm. R. Day Wm. H. Moody Jan–Mar 1910: J. M. Harlan D. J. Brewer E. D. White J. McKenna O. W. Holmes Wm. R. Day Wm. H. Moody H. H. Lurton