The Chief Justiceship of Melville W. Fuller, 1888-1910

Preface

PREFACE All commentators agree that the Supreme Court began to play an increasingly important role in the determination of public policy during the late nineteenth century. But historians have engaged in a fierce debate over the nature and extent of this judicial involvement. The aim of this volume is to provide a detailed analysis of the behavior of the Supreme Court during the pivotal tenure of Melville W. Fuller as chief justice. This book is in the style of a judicial biography. Although one focus is on Fuller's leadership, careful attention is also given to the work of the Supreme Court as a whole and the course of decisions. How did Fuller guide the Court? How did the justices respond to the novel legal issues raised by the emerging industrial order? How did the Supreme Court under Fuller relate to the larger political and economic currents of American history? These are the questions that I have endeavored to answer . The conclusions may cause us to recast the conventional interpretation of the significance and impact of the Fuller Court. Given the nature of this project, it was necessary to make difficult decisions regarding coverage of certain subjects. In many places this volume skims the surface of broad issues. Some individual topics treated briefly, such as railroad regulation, the liberty of contract, and the 1894 income tax, warrant a book in their own right. Readers should also be aware of several features of this volume. The full citation for decisions discussed in the text can be found in the Table of Cases. In addition, an appendix indicating the tenure of alljustices on the Supreme Court during Fuller's tenure has been placed at the end of the volume. Much of the information contained in this work was drawn from archival sources. I have used the following abbreviations in referring to these sources in the notes: LC: Library of Congress; and CHS: Chicago Historical Society. Xl xii PREFACE The author of a book accumulates many obligations. I have benefited greatly from the generous help of many people in the course of writing this volume. Herbert A. Johnson, the general editor of the chiefjustices of the United States series, provided constant encouragement and sage advice. I am especially indebted to Herman Belz, Jon w. Bruce, Paul Kens, A. E. Keir Nash, Walter F. Pratt, Jr., and Nicholas S. Zeppos for reading some or all of the manuscript and offering thoughtful critiques. Donald J. Hall, Paul Janicke, Craig C. Joyce, and Robert K. Rasmussen made keen observations about particular sections of the text. R. Ben Brown and Linda Przybyszewski commented upon part of chapter 3 when I presented it as a paper at the American Society for Legal History in October 1993. During the course of my research on this book, I have received valuable cooperation and assistance. I wish to thank especially Howard A. Hood and PeterJ. Garland ofthe Massey Law Library ofVanderbilt University for their skill and patience in locating materials. J. Gordon Hylton kindly shared his study of voting patterns on the Fuller Court. I am also grateful for the help of the staffs of the Library of Congress, the Office of the Curator of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Chicago Historical Society, and the Heard Library of Vanderbilt Library, all of whom greatly facilitated my research. Dorris Baker typed the many revisions of the manuscript with efficiency and good humor. The editorial staff of the University of South Carolina Press was consistently supportive and helpful. Special thanks must go to my wife, Mickey, for her steady support and encouragement. Despite my reliance upon the assistance of others, I am of course solely responsible for any errors or omissions. The ChiefJusticeship of MELVILLE W. FULLER ...