Today in Supreme Court History: January 10, 1842

1/10/1842: Justice Peter Daniel's takes the judicial oath.

Justice Peter Daniel

Comments

[Queen Amalthea]

"Daniel championed states' rights principles embodied in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, and promoted agrarian issues and strict construction of the federal Constitution...he was a member of the Richmond Junto, a powerful group of the Jacksonian Democrats and slaveholders...he also disagreed with the amount of power that was given to the federal government...[h]e wrote a concurrence in Prigg v. Pennsylvania (1842) which upheld the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793...[h]e also joined the majority in Jones v. Van Zandt (1847) and wrote another concurrent opinion a decade later in Dred Scott v. Sandford, to state that 'the African negro race never have been acknowledged as belonging to the family of nations.'"

Checks out.

[Cal Cetín]

"he also disagreed with the amount of power that was given to the federal government...[h]e wrote a concurrence in Prigg v. Pennsylvania (1842) which upheld the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793"

So he was willing to give at least *that* much power to the federal government.

[Queen Amalthea]

But of course.

[Cal Cetín]

Justice Daniel (not Daniel's) is someone I mainly remember for this (from WIkipedia):

"His second wife, the Pennsylvania-born widow Elizabeth Hodgson Harris (1824-1857) died tragically when a lit candle accidentally set her clothing afire, leaving Daniel grief-stricken."

[Queen Amalthea]

He also killed a guy in a duel. Not sure how many SCOTUS justices could have said that (though I get it wasn't uncommon for prominent people in his day to have done so).

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

" 1/10/1842: Justice Peter Daniel's takes the judicial oath. "

No editor needed for that one.