Justice Bushrod Washington
Today’s Justice of the Day is: BUSHROD WASHINGTON. Justice Washington was born on this day, June 5, in 1762.
Justice Washington was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in the coastal part of the state where he grew up, spent his entire professional life and from which he would be appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States. He spent much of his life living in the shadow of his uncle, the first President of the United States, George Washington. Justice Washington attended the College of William and Mary, where he shared classes with many early American intellectual titans, including the Chief Justice he would serve alongside for most of his SCUS career, John Marshall, and graduated with an A.B. in 1778.
Soon after, Justice Washington entered the American Revolutionary War, joining the Continental Army as a private and serving in that capacity from 1781 -1782. He entered private practice in his home county for one year after the cessation of hostilities, before moving on to practice in Alexandria, Virginia from 1785-1790, and then in Richmond, Virginia from 1790 until his appointment to the SCUS. Concurrent with his legal career, Justice Washington also served as a Virginia State Delegate in 1787 and was a Delegate to the Virginia convention to ratify the U.S. Constitution one year later. He had no formal judicial experience, outside of his work in private practice, prior to joining the SCUS.
Justice Washington received a recess appointment from President John Adams on September 29, 1798, to a seat vacated by Justice James Wilson. He was subsequently nominated to the same position by President Adams on December 19, and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate the following day. Justice Washington received his commission on December 20, and took the Judicial Oath to officially join the SCUS on or near February 4, 1799. He briefly sat on the Ellsworth Court before serving the bulk of his Supreme Court career on the Marshall Court, and his service was terminated on November 26, 1829, due to his death.
Justice Washington never quite got out from under his uncle’s shadow, and today is not considered to have been a particularly distinguished member of the SCUS. His only notable role on the Court was as a loyal follower of the great Chief Justice Marshall, and indeed Justice Washington only disagreed with him three times in the more than a quarter of a century they served together on the bench. Justice Washington joined the unanimous opinions of the Court that were written by Chief Justice Marshall in the two major cases of his day, Marbury v. Madison (1803) and McCulloch v. Maryland (1819).