Today in Supreme Court History: September 4, 1851

9/4/1851: Justice Levi Woodbury dies.

Justice Levi Woodbury

Comments

[Frank Drackman]

and I don't feel so good myself (HT. L Grizzard)

[Leonard]

Given your impressive credentials, would it be possible for you to clarify the specifics of the 'Social Security Act of 1935' please. It seems that misinformation has run rampant for generations of American families. It has been said that the TRUTH will set you free. Isn't that what most libertarians wish for? FREEDOM??

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Levi Woodbury served in all three branches of government, including state judge, governor/member of the state legislature, more than one Cabinet appointment, and U.S. senator. Impressive.

https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/W000711

LW was the first justice to attend law school. He wasn't a fan and soon opted for the traditional apprentice system.

He served six years as justice. He notably replaced Justice Joseph Story. LW was praised for his reasoning skills and work ethic. One of the many grinders that are largely lost to history.

One notable opinion is Jones v. Van Zandt, which rejected a libertarian approach to slavery and fugitive slave laws.

[F.D. Wolf]

I have seen several sources refer to Levi Woodbury as the first justice to attend law school (and have made it myself), but this does not appear to be correct. Justice Henry Baldwin, who joined the Court fifteen years before Woodbury, appears to have also attended the defunct Litchfield Law School.

During the fifty-odd years of its existence, Litchfield prepared over a thousand students for the Bar, a number that can be better appreciated in light of the fact that Harvard graduated a total of 1,066 students from 1809 to 1826. Two-thirds of Litchfield's students came from outside Connecticut. They were from every state in the Union, Georgia alone contributing seventy. Two students, Aaron Burr and John C. Calhoun, became Vice Presidents of the United States. Three became Justices of the Supreme Court (Levi Woodbury, Henry Baldwin and Ward Hunt). Six became Cabinet members; fourteen, governors; sixteen, chief justices of states. One hundred and twenty-nine were elected to
Congress.

The Best That Is in the Old 55 A.B.A. J. 842, 844 (1969).

There is some debate over whether Litchfield or William & Mary can lay claim as the first law school in the United States, the question turning on when exactly Litchfield became a "law school" as opposed to just one man tutoring a few students.

>In June 1966, the Tapping Reeve House and Law School became registered national historic landmarks. In the landmark citation, the National Park Service recognized Tapping Reeve’s Litchfield Law School as the first law school in the nation. The College of William & Mary disputed that claim, and argued that the first law program in the United States began in 1779 with the appointment of George Wythe as a Professor of Law and Police. The main point of contention was the Litchfield Law School’s date of establishment. The College of William & Mary argued that Tapping Reeve’s school was created in 1784. Litchfield advocates argued that Tapping Reeve’s school began in 1774, when Tapping Reeve took his brother-in-law, Aaron Burr, into his home for law classes. The law school debate even reached Congressman Thomas N. Downing, who asked the Park Service to clarify the statement for historical accuracy. Upon review, the Park Service declared the Litchfield Law School as “the first in the United States not associated with a college or university,” and recognized William & Mary as the first law school in America.

https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/lawschooldebate1966/

[JoeFromtheBronx]

The Supreme Court Historical Society summary is one citation of today's entry being the first, but it does seem to be wrong.

https://supremecourthistory.org/associate-justices/levi-woodbury-1845-1851/

https://ledger.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org/ledger/students/175
{Henry Baldwin]