Benjamin Robbins Curtis

Details

Birth

November 4, 1809 · Watertown, Massachusetts

Death

September 15, 1874

Law school

harvard university

Prior experience

U.s. supreme court justice (recess)

Biography

Benjamin Robbins Curtis (November 4, 1809 – September 15, 1874) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court who served from 1851 to 1857. Born in Watertown, Massachusetts, Curtis graduated from Harvard College in 1829 and Harvard Law School in 1832. He established a successful legal practice in Boston, specializing in commercial and admiralty law, and gained recognition as one of New England's leading attorneys. His expertise in constitutional law and reputation for legal scholarship led to his appointment to the Supreme Court by President Millard Fillmore in 1851, making him the first Supreme Court Justice to have attended law school. Curtis's judicial philosophy emphasized strict constitutional interpretation and federalism, often advocating for limited federal power and states' rights within constitutional bounds. His tenure was marked by his lone dissent in the landmark *Dred Scott v. Sandford* (1857), where he argued that free African Americans could be U.S. citizens and that Congress possessed the constitutional authority to regulate slavery in federal territories. This dissent directly contradicted Chief Justice Roger Taney's majority opinion and demonstrated Curtis's commitment to legal precedent and constitutional principles over political considerations. The intense criticism and personal attacks he faced following this dissent, combined with inadequate judicial compensation, prompted his resignation from the Court in July 1857. Curtis returned to private practice in Boston, where he became one of the nation's highest-paid attorneys and later served as lead defense counsel for President Andrew Johnson during his impeachment trial in 1868. His *Dred Scott* dissent is remembered as a prescient constitutional analysis that anticipated many arguments later adopted during Reconstruction.

Notable opinions

• Dred Scott v. Sandford
• Ableman v. Booth