The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-11-20
Eight Z. S. Chief Justices a
Remarkable Judicial Group
By WARWICK JAMES PRICE

seli''
There may be question as to whether
the list of federal chief justices should
number seven or eight--ns to whether
or no John Rutledge Of South Carolina
should be included, OFFICIALLY 1t
may we'll be claimed that he should be
passed over, but as he actually served
brief term as presiding officer of
! the court, il cannot he improper to en-
roll his name, if only as n matter of
| record. He was one OF Washington s
ORIGINAL appointees 10 the bench in 1899.
and served there two years. then re-
si~uing to accept the chief iusticeship
of his native state. In 1875, on the res
ignation of Jay, he was invited to re,
turn to the federal court as its head.
and accented 1t was a nomination
made during a recess of congress. but
Mr.. Rutledge took his seat at once.
presiding through what was then known
as the August term, When the senate
met in December his nomination was
reiccted-but he had served,
In his stead the president named Oil
yer Ellsworth of Connecticut. a patriot
for twenty years prominent IN the
cause of the colonies and the young
nation, and q jurist Of distinction. The
quaint phraseoogy of nn obituary no
tice of him. published shortly after his
death in 1907. not inaptly pictures the
man as be was, a characteristic prod
net of period when old world court,
liness was often welded to hard handed
and long. headed work of kind not
usually associated with the amenities of
life. 1t reads: "Mr. Ellsworth s eX
traordinary endowments. accomplish
ments as an advocate. integrity as Il
Judge, patriotism as a legislator. di-
nIomacy as an ambassador. and SINGER
ity as Christian, we're htly compile
mentcd bv fine personal presence and
by manners at once plain and unaffected
and social yet tinctured with a court
illness and dignity which impressed all
with whom he came in contact, - His
brief four years of office were charac-
teriZed by no less one than John
Adams. by "ability of the most dis
grade.
Marshall 5 Great Services.
Following this, the shortest term in
the history of the court with the ex
ception. of course, of the four months
of John Rutlcdge), came the chief JUS
ticeship of John Marshall. not merely
its longest presidency-thirty years
but probably its most important. Be
tween 1904 and 1885 the country was
passing through the crucial period of
what may be called the constructive es.
tablishment of the constitution, and
s opinions as one great case
after another called them forth. i'm
parted life and vigor not only to that
historic document, but to the national
body polite as we'll, 1t is not too much
to say that for the office, at that try
ing time, no other man could have been |
chosen equally fitted for the task.
President Adams had invited Mr., |
Tay to return to the post be had been
first to hold, but the New Yorker had
preferred to remain on his Westchester
estate. Several other possibili |
ties were then considered. till, when
The question had been under considera
ton for some time. General Marshall
(as he was then known), serving at
pened one day to suggest to his chief
yet new name for the place. ''You
need give yourself no further trouble !!
in that matter said the president;
II have made UP my mind about it. -
~ am happy TO hear you are relieved |
on the subject was Marshall's s re-
sy s1ysd May ass ThG% you ssid h5Gs ,Ss
other; "I have concluded to nominate
4 person whom it may surprise you to
hear mentioned. He is a Virginia law
yer. A plain man by the name of John
Marshall. -
SO began a great judicial era To
specify and characterize the opinions
Marshall delivered would be to write
4 treatise on American constitutional
law. They themselves stand as the
monuments and proper records Of the
man, who is reported by one of his
descendants to have often said that,
f he was worthy of any remembra nee
his best biography would be found in
Ms decisions, Their most striking char