Today in Supreme Court History: November 28, 1872

11/28/1872: Justice Samuel Nelson resigns.

Justice Samuel Nelson

Comments

[Dan Schiavetta]

Wrote the original “hands-off” decision in Dred Scott. Why Taney took over and ran the Court off the rails is still a mystery.

[Cal Cetín]

Taney wanted to "call[] the contending sides of a national controversy to end their national division by accepting a common mandate rooted in the Constitution."

[Syd Henderson]

He also wrote the decision in Hotchkiss v. Greenwood in patent law which still stands. It's the one that prevents you from patenting obvious inventions.