Today in Supreme Court History: December 1, 1897

12/1/1897: Justice Stephen Field resigns.

Justice Stephen Field

Comments

[Dan Schiavetta]

Held on way too long. Wanted to break Marshall's longevity record.

No, Mr. Field, pointing out to a colleague that he can no longer do the job and should resign, is not "dirty work".

Contrast this with the gracious manner Holmes resigned when Hughes went to visit him on January 10, 1932.

[Dan Schiavetta]

P.S. I assume you mean Dec. 1, 1897, not 1987.

As for Dec. 1, 1987 . . . that would have been a good time for another once-great player, Steve Carlton, to retire. Fortunately for those of us who had to watch, baseball retired him for us the next spring.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Chasing wikipaedia links for Justice Field is interesting work for a Sunday morning. Duels, revenge, secret marriages, corruption, slavery, quite the story. Would make a good movie, but Hollywood would never be satisfied with the reality and would re-arrange the timeline and embellish parts, all unnecessarily.

[Eddy]

Wow, he really did hang on a long time after resigning!

[Eddy]

They thought he was on the very verge of death, but he said, "hold my bier."

[Allen Garvin]

teeheehee