Robert Cooper Grier
Robert Cooper Grier (born March 5, 1794 in Cumberland County , Pennsylvania , † September 25, 1870 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania) was an American lawyer and from 1846 to 1870 judge at the Supreme Court of the United States .
Life
Robert Cooper Grier graduated from Dickinson College in 1812 . In 1817 he was by the Bar Association in Bloomsburg as a lawyer admitted. In 1818 he moved to Danville . The law firm he founded there was very successful. In 1833 he became a judge in the Allegheny County District Court , a position he held until his appeal to the Supreme Court.
In 1844, Pennsylvania-born Supreme Court Justice Henry Baldwin died . The then US President James K. Polk was looking for a successor who, on the one hand , belonged to his own party, the Democrats , and, on the other hand, should also come from Pennsylvania. After the search for a suitable candidate, who also had the approval of the Senate , was initially unsuccessful, Polk finally resorted to the undisputed but also unknown Grier. In 1846 Grier became a member of the Supreme Court. He was to hold this office until 1870, when he resigned for health reasons under pressure from his fellow judges. He died in September of the same year.
In 1848 he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society .
Activity at the Supreme Court
Grier generally took a moderate position at the Court. He was a representative of state sovereignty vis-à-vis the central government. He was therefore inclined to reject federal laws. As a result of this basic attitude, the position of the southern states tended towards the question of slavery .
His behavior in connection with the Dred Scott v. Sandford . At the urging of then President James Buchanan , Grier agreed to vote with a majority in the court, which did not want black Americans to have the same civil rights as whites. Grier had originally intended to vote differently on this point. He also informed the President in detail about the outcome of the proceedings before the verdict was announced.
During the civil war , however, he should then judge for compliance with the Union. He saw the blockade of the ports of the south in the wake of the so-called anaconda plan as legitimate only at the behest of the president.
Web links
- Robert Cooper Grier in the database of Find a Grave (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Member History: Robert C. Grier. American Philosophical Society, accessed August 30, 2018 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Grier, Robert Cooper |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American lawyer, Supreme Court Justice (1846–1870) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 5, 1794 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Cumberland County , Pennsylvania |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 25, 1870 |
| Place of death | Philadelphia , Pennsylvania |