Shiras, George, Jr.

• Author: Jeffrey Lehman, Shirelle Phelps

Page 178

George Shiras Jr. served on the U.S. Supreme Court as an associate justice from 1892 to 1903. Plucked by political necessity at the age of sixty from his highly successful law practice, Shiras, who had never been a judge or politician, brought a lawyerly, pragmatic perspective to the Court. He wrote some opinions in favor of civil liberties, occasionally blocked the Court's full embrace of laissez-faire economics, and became notorious as the justice whose vote in 1895 torpedoed the new federal INCOME TAX. This last decision, for which Shiras was incorrectly blamed, ultimately led to the ratification of the SIXTEENTH AMENDMENT in 1913.

Shiras was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on January 26, 1832, to a wealthy brewing family. He attended Yale Law School in 1853. Two years later he completed his training at a law office in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, before starting a legal practice with his brother. The practice specialized in representing the railroads

George Shiras Jr.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

and other big industries during the boom era of Pittsburgh. So successful was Shiras that, by the late 1880s, he was earning the then-phenomenal income of $75,000 annually. He developed no national reputation, steering clear of partisan politics even when the state legislature nominated him for a senate seat. Independent in nature, he sometimes represented interests opposed to his business clients.

In 1892 President BENJAMIN HARRISON nominated Shiras to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by the death of Justice JOSEPH P. BRADLEY. Like Bradley, Shiras was a Pennsylvania Republican, and convention dictated that Bradley's replacement be of similar political and geographic origin. Thus for political reasons Shiras was a good choice, even though he had no judicial or political experience. Strong opposition to the nomination came from the president's enemies. But support from powerful, private figures, including Andrew Carnegie, was ultimately persuasive.

" ? TO DECLARE UNLAWFUL RESIDENCE WITHIN THE COUNTRY TO BE AN INFAMOUS CRIME, PUNISHABLE BY DEPRIVATION OF LIBERTY AND PROPERTY ? [WITHOUT] A JUDICIAL TRIAL ? IS NOT CONSISTENT WITH THE THEORY OF OUR GOVERNMENT."

?GEORGE SHIRAS JR.

When Shiras joined the Court, the chief issue of the day was regulation of business. The Court was conservative, believing in the hands-off policy of laissez-faire economics. Shiras usually joined his fellow justices in...