Today in Supreme Court History: February 15, 1790

2/15/1790: Justice John Rutledge takes oath.

Justice John Rutledge

 

Comments

[Dan Schiavetta]

So — did he really meet with Roger Sherman in the taproom of the Indian Queen on June 30, 1787 to hammer out the Great Compromise? To have been a fly on that wall!

[Mark Leen]

Chancellor Palpatine?

[Cal Cetín]

He didn't control the Senate like the Chancellor.

[F.D. Wolf]

A brilliant, highly capable man, and one of the most active and influential delegates at the 1787 Constitutional Convention. He was tragically hampered by mental illness in his final years.

Rutledge, along with Charles Evans Hughes, is one of two individuals to serve two separate stints on the Supreme Court, first as one of the inaugural associate justices from 1790-91 and later as Chief Justice in 1795. (Similarly, Hughes served as Associate Justice from 1910-16 and as Chief Justice from 1930-41.)