Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-01-11
WAITE,

FULLER. WAITE. CHASE.
dition of affairs which fell also to their
successors up to 1870. It was not till
after that date that the docket became
crowded.
While thero have been twenty-three
presidents of the United States there
have been but seven chief justices Of the
supreme court The number is some-
times given as nine, including John Rut-
ledge and William Cushing. Rutledge
was appointed while congress was not in
session, but having shown himself unfit
ted for the position by making partisan
political speech after his appointment.
he was rejected by the senate. Will
lam Cushing was appointed and confirm
cd in his place. He held the Office a
week and then resigned. He never sat
as chief justice.
Tho following is list Of the chief JUS
tees since the organization of the court,
with their states and period Of service:
John Jay. New York. .l7S0 to 1905
Oliver Ellsworth. Conn. .1796 to 1900
John Marshall Virginia ....1soi to 1885
Roger Brooke Taney. Maryland. 1886 to 1864
Salmon Portland Chase. Ohio 1854 10 1879
Melville Weston Fuller. .. Illinois. 1883.
John Rutledge, South Carolina, not confirmed.
William Cushing, Massachusetts,, resigned.
John Jay was but A years OF age
when he became chief justice. A por-
trait of him which hangs in tho consul
tation room represents him in robe
with scarlet facings and collar and
sleeves. This has given rise to tradi-
ton that the first justices wore gowns
of red and ermine. In the higher state
courts at that time the judges wore red
gowns, and this one worn by Jay had
been borrowed from Chancellor Living
ston. When costume was adopted for
the justices of the supreme court it was
plain black gown such as is worn now.
When the court first sat means Of get
ting about were not what they are today.
The justices could not take train one
day and be at the capital in day or two
after. AZ tho first sitting only three had
arrived. At the second Justice Blair was
present, making four. The only business
done at this meeting was to read the com.
missions of the justices and appoint a
crier. At the third meeting clerk was
appointed and a seal adopted. A month
later James Iredell came in, but John
Rutledge, the first associate justice ap-
pointed, did not attend any meeting Of
the court until he took his seat as chief
JUSTICE. On Feb. 10 the court adjourned
until Aug. 2, and when they reassembled,
asthere were still no cases, they again ad-
journed until Feb. 2, 1891.
The first case which came before the
court was that Of Nicholas and Jacob
Vanstaphorst VS.. the State Of Maryland.
Indeed, nearly all the early cases were
suits of citizens against other states than
the one in which they resided. In 1898,
after Justice Jay decided in suit Of citi.
zen against Georgia that such cases came
! within the jurisdiction of the state courts,
congress, being largely imbued with the
state rights doctrine, passed an amend
ment to the constitution declaring that a
state cannot be sued by a citizen Of an
other state or any foreign stale. This
disposed of nearly all the CAGES the su
preme court had considered for sever
years.
The average number Of cases which
annually came before the court was fol
several years "a. During the third dec