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- Justice Stephen Johnson Field. As a sitting justice in 1880, Justice Stephen Johnson Field launched a dark horse bid for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.
- Chief Justice Roger Taney. Any list of terrible Supreme Court justices that does not begin with Chief Justice Roger Taney will inherently be controversial.
- Justice James Clark McReynolds. I describe Justice James Clark McReynolds’s unique blend of self-centered bigotry in Injustices: McReynolds was, in Time magazine’s words, “a savagely sarcastic, incredibly reactionary Puritan anti-Semite.”
- Chief Justice Melville Fuller. If it were up to Melville Fuller, Abraham Lincoln would never have been president. Born into one of Maine’s most prominent Democratic families, Fuller moved to Chicago and became a top campaign surrogate for Lincoln’s two-time opponent Senator Stephen Douglas.
- James Clark McReynolds: Anti-Semitic Loner
- Chief Justice Roger B. Taney: Dred Scott
- Alfred Moore: Who?
- Samuel Chase: Impeached Politician
- Other Nominees?
Ask Supreme Court scholars about their least favorite justice, and it's almost certain that McReynolds will make the list. According to Wikipedia, McReynolds would not accept "Jews, drinkers, blacks, women, smokers, married or engaged individuals as law clerks." When Justice Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish Supreme Court justice was appointed, McRe...
Check any list of worst decisions and you'll find Dred Scott v. Sandford at the top of the list. It's author? Chief Justice Roger B. Taney. Taney's opinion seemed to be driven by a motivation to end the question of slavery once and for all -- by ruling in favor of the shameful practice. In the opinion, he took an originalist approach to the questio...
There are many anonymous names in the list of Supreme Court justices, especially in the early days when it wasn't the supremeinstitution that it is now. But Moore stands out among those names because of his length of service and absolutely embarrassing lack of productivity. Five years. One short four-paragraph opinion. Speaking of short, Wikipedia ...
Here's a bar trivia fact for all you law students: Justice Samuel Chase was the only Supreme Court justice to ever be impeached. Was he corrupt? Did he get freaky with a clerk? Nope. According to the late Professor Bernard Schwartz's "A Book of Legal Lists,"he was a shamelessly partisan judge, who let his Federalist leanings openly influence his ju...
We're sure we missed someone, such as any of the anonymous early justices, or Charles E. Whittaker, whom Schwartz called "the dumbest Justice ever appointed." Tweet your nomination to @FindLawLP. Related Resources: 1. 5 Justices With the Shortest Supreme Court Tenures(FindLaw's U.S. Supreme Court Blog) 2. The Justice Stevens 'Retirement' Tour Makes...
Jan 1, 2024 · 1. Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857): Oh, the dreaded Dred. The oldest case on our list is also coincidentally the worst. There may be disagreement about the other worst-ever SCOTUS, but nobody disagrees that this one is hands-down the worst Supreme Court decision ever.
Oct 18, 2015 · The US Supreme Court ruled that Benjamin’s bias was so extreme that his failure to step aside violated Caperton’s right to due process under the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment.
Antonin Scalia did not have one landmarked bad decision. Instead his career on the court was marked by a continuous war against the Constitutional government and rule by law. Something all three of these judges shared was immense arrogance about their right to reshape then law.
Jan 14, 2019 · Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black. Getty Images Archive. On October 1, 1937, less than two months after taking his seat on the court, Justice Black was forced to give an unprecedented nationwide radio address to explain himself. In a speech heard by an estimated 50 million Americans, he said in part, “I did join the Klan. I later resigned.
Oct 6, 2015 · Wade (1973) appeared on the lists of both the best and worst decisions. Here’s a sampling of the opinions generated when we asked court-watchers to put the worst decisions of the past 55 years...
