David Josiah Brewer
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David Josiah Brewer
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| In office January 6, 1890 – March 28, 1910 |
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| Nominated by | Benjamin Harrison |
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| Preceded by | Thomas Stanley Matthews |
| Succeeded by | Charles Evans Hughes |
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| Born | January 20, 1837 Izmir, Turkey |
| Died | March 28, 1910 (aged 73) Washington, D.C. |
David Josiah Brewer, LL.D (January 20, 1837 – March 28, 1910), was an American jurist.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Brewer was born to a family of Congregational missionaries in Izmir, Turkey. His parents, Emilia Ann Hovey Field and Josiah Brewer, returned to the United States in 1838 and settled in Connecticut. Brewer attended college at Wesleyan University and Yale University, graduating from the latter in 1856. Brewer read law for one year, then enrolled at Albany Law School in Albany, New York, graduating in 1858.
[edit] Career
Upon graduating from law school, Brewer moved to Kansas and established a law practice. He was named Commissioner of the Federal Circuit Court in Leavenworth in 1861. He held two other judgeships before being elected to the Kansas Supreme Court in 1870, where he served for 14 years. In 1884 he was named to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
After 28 years on the bench, Brewer was nominated by Benjamin Harrison to the United States Supreme Court, in 1889, and confirmed in 1890 by the Senate. He served on the court for 20 years, until his death in 1910.
Brewer was an active member of the Supreme Court, writing often in both concurring and dissenting opinions. He was a major contributor to the doctrine of substantive due process, arguing that certain activities are entirely outside government control. In his time he frequently sided with Court majorities striking down property rights restrictions. 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.
He was also the nephew of Associate Justice Stephen Johnson Field.
He wrote:
- The Pew for the Pulpit (1897)
- American Citizenship (1902)
- The Mission of the United States in the Cause of Peace (1909)
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.[1]
[edit] References
- Data drawn in part from the Supreme Court Historical Society and Oyez.
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| Preceded by Thomas Stanley Matthews |
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States January 6, 1890 – March 28, 1910 |
Succeeded by Charles Evans Hughes |
