Howell E. Jackson

Details

Birth

April 8, 1832 · Paris, Tennessee

Death

August 8, 1895

Law school

cumberland university

Prior experience

U.s. court of appeals judge

Biography

Howell Edmunds Jackson (April 8, 1832 – August 8, 1895) was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1893 until his death in 1895. Born in Paris, Tennessee, Jackson graduated from West Tennessee College in 1849 and the University of Virginia Law School in 1856. He established a legal practice in Jackson, Tennessee, and briefly served in the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1880. During the Civil War, Jackson supported the Union despite Tennessee's secession, which later influenced his political appointments. He served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1886 to 1893, where he developed a reputation for careful legal reasoning and moderation. President Benjamin Harrison nominated Jackson to the Supreme Court in February 1893, and he was confirmed by the Senate without opposition. Jackson's tenure on the Court was brief due to his declining health from tuberculosis, but he participated in several significant cases. His most notable opinion came in Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. (1895), where he cast the decisive vote upholding the federal income tax in the initial decision, though the Court later reversed itself in a rehearing after Jackson became too ill to participate. Jackson generally favored a moderate interpretation of federal power and demonstrated sympathy for economic regulation. His judicial philosophy reflected a pragmatic approach that balanced state and federal authority. Jackson's legacy is largely defined by his brief but consequential tenure and his role in the income tax controversy, which ultimately led to the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913.

Notable opinions

• Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.
• United States v. E. C. Knight Co.