predecessor successor death_date birth_place death_place religion office termstart termend birth_date spouse image article_title name nominator
joseph philo bradley william r. day 2 august 1924 pittsburgh , pennsylvania pittsburgh , pennsylvania presbyterian associate justice of the united states supreme court july 26 , 1892 february 23 , 1903 26 january 1832 lillie e. kennedy george shiras jr.jpg george shiras , jr. .
 george shiras , jr. . benjamin harrison
george shiras , jr. .

george shiras , jr. -lrb- january 26 , 1832 -- august 2 , 1924 -rrb- was an associate justice of the supreme court of the united states who was nominated to the court by republican president benjamin harrison .
at that time , he had 37 years of private legal practice , but had never judged a case .
shiras 's only public service before he became a justice was as a federal elector in 1888 , almost four years before his nomination in 1892 .
shiras was born in pittsburgh , pennsylvania january 26 , 1832 .
he attended ohio university and graduated from yale college , phi beta kappa , in 1853 .
he began law school at yale law school , but left before earning a law degree he finished his training by reading law at a law office , then practiced law in dubuque , iowa from 1855 to 1858 , and in pittsburgh , pennsylvania from 1858 to 1892 .
in pittsburgh , he became a prominent corporate attorney , and he was noted for his honesty and pragmatism while representing some of the nation 's industrial giants on july 19 , 1892 , shiras was nominated by president harrison to a supreme court seat vacated by joseph p. bradley .
he was recommended for the post by his cousin , secretary of state james g. blaine .
shiras was confirmed by the united states senate on july 26 , 1892 , and received his commission the same day .
although shiras sat on the court for more than 10 years authoring 253 majority decisions and 14 dissents , he is noted for his votes on just two landmark cases , `` pollock v. farmers ' loan & trust co. '' -lrb- 1895 -rrb- , and `` plessy v. ferguson '' -lrb- 1896 -rrb- .
he sided with the majority in the 5-4 decision in `` pollock '' to strike down the income tax act of 1894 as unconstitutional .
some historians believe shiras was the pivotal justice who switched his vote , while other historians suspect that it was either justice horace gray or justice david brewer .
regardless , the ruling in `` pollock '' led to the need for a constitutional amendment to impose a federal income tax , and in 1913 , the sixteenth amendment to the united states constitution was ratified .
shiras also voted with the 7-1 majority in the infamous case `` plessy v. ferguson '' , a case which upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the doctrine of separate but equal , and which was not overruled until 1954 .
shiras retired from the bench on february 23 , 1903 , and remained in retirement until his death , in pittsburgh , in 1924 .
his son , george shiras iii , served as a member of the united states house of representatives for pennsylvania .
