Melville Fuller

Details

Birth

February 11, 1833 · Augusta, Maine

Death

July 4, 1910

Law school

harvard university

Prior experience

Various legal and public service prior to appointment

Biography

Melville Weston Fuller (1833-1910) served as the eighth Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1888 until his death in 1910. Born in Augusta, Maine, Fuller graduated from Bowdoin College in 1853 and briefly attended Harvard Law School before establishing a law practice in Illinois. He became active in Democratic politics and gained prominence as a skilled orator and attorney, representing clients in various commercial and constitutional matters. Fuller served in the Illinois House of Representatives and was a delegate to the 1864 Democratic National Convention. President Grover Cleveland nominated Fuller as Chief Justice in 1888, despite his limited judicial experience. Fuller's appointment faced initial Senate opposition due to his Democratic affiliations and lack of federal court background, but he was confirmed after several months. As Chief Justice, Fuller adhered to a conservative judicial philosophy emphasizing states' rights, limited federal government power, and laissez-faire economic principles. He presided over the Court during the Lochner era, consistently supporting business interests and opposing federal regulation of commerce. Fuller's most significant opinions include *Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.* (1895), which struck down the federal income tax as unconstitutional, and his majority opinion in *United States v. E.C. Knight Co.* (1895), which severely limited federal antitrust enforcement by distinguishing between commerce and manufacturing. He also authored the decision in *Plessy v. Ferguson* (1896) as Chief Justice, though he did not write the majority opinion that established the "separate but equal" doctrine. Fuller's tenure was marked by the Court's resistance to Progressive Era reforms and federal expansion of power. His legacy reflects the conservative constitutional interpretation that dominated the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, much of which was later overturned during the New Deal era.

Notable opinions

• Plessy v. Ferguson
• Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.