George Shiras Jr.

Details

Birth

January 26, 1832 · Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Death

August 2, 1924

Law school

yale university

Prior experience

Various legal and public service prior to appointment

Biography

George Shiras Jr. (January 26, 1832 – August 2, 1924) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1892 to 1903. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to a prosperous family, Shiras graduated from Yale College in 1853 before studying law at Yale Law School and subsequently at a law office in Pittsburgh. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1855 and established a successful private practice specializing in corporate and commercial law, representing major clients including the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and various steel and iron companies. His legal expertise in corporate matters made him one of Pittsburgh's most prominent attorneys during the Gilded Age. President Benjamin Harrison nominated Shiras to the Supreme Court in 1892, making him the first justice appointed from Pennsylvania since the Civil War. His nomination was notable for being uncontroversial and receiving unanimous Senate confirmation. On the Court, Shiras generally aligned with conservative positions on economic issues while occasionally supporting individual rights. He is best remembered for his pivotal role in Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. (1895), where he cast the decisive vote striking down the federal income tax as unconstitutional, a decision that required the Sixteenth Amendment to overturn. Shiras also wrote the majority opinion in Wong Wing v. United States (1896), which established that the Fifth and Sixth Amendments' due process protections applied to all persons within U.S. jurisdiction, regardless of citizenship status. He retired from the Court in 1903, citing his desire to step down while still in good health, and spent his remaining years in private life until his death in 1924.

Notable opinions

• Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.
• In re Debs