Robert Cooper Grier

Details

Birth

March 5, 1794 · Cumberland County, Pennsylvania

Death

September 25, 1870

Law school

dickinson university; read law (Self taught)

Prior experience

State trial court judge

Biography

Robert Cooper Grier (March 5, 1794 – September 25, 1870) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court who served from 1846 to 1870. Born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, to a Presbyterian minister and educator, Grier received his early education at his father's academy before graduating from Dickinson College in 1812 at age 18. After briefly teaching at his father's school, he studied law privately and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1817. Grier established a successful legal practice in Danville, Pennsylvania, and later served as a judge on the Allegheny County District Court from 1833 to 1846, where he gained a reputation for his legal acumen and fair temperament. President James K. Polk nominated Grier to the Supreme Court in 1846 to fill the vacancy left by Justice Henry Baldwin's death. Despite being a Democrat, Grier generally avoided extreme partisan positions and was known for his moderate judicial approach. His most significant and controversial opinion came in the 1857 case Dred Scott v. Sandford, where he joined the majority in ruling that African Americans could not be U.S. citizens and that Congress lacked authority to prohibit slavery in federal territories. During the Civil War, Grier supported the Union cause and upheld presidential war powers in cases such as the Prize Cases (1863), which validated Lincoln's naval blockade of Confederate ports. Grier's later years on the Court were marked by declining mental faculties, and he retired in 1870 under pressure from his colleagues. His legacy remains complicated by his participation in the Dred Scott decision, though he was respected for his legal knowledge and dedication to judicial service during a turbulent period in American history.

Notable opinions

• Dred Scott v. Sandford
• Ableman v. Booth