Rufus W. Peckham

Details

Birth

November 8, 1838 · Albany, New York

Death

October 24, 1909

Law school

Read law (Peckham, Rufus)

Prior experience

State highest court justice

Biography

Rufus Wheeler Peckham Jr. (November 8, 1838 – October 24, 1909) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1895 to 1909. Born in Albany, New York, to a prominent legal family, Peckham was educated at The Albany Academy and studied law privately rather than attending law school, as was common at the time. He was admitted to the New York bar in 1859 and established a successful practice in Albany. Peckham served as district attorney for Albany County from 1869 to 1872 and was elected to the New York Court of Appeals in 1886, where he served until his appointment to the Supreme Court. President Grover Cleveland nominated Peckham to the Supreme Court in 1895, following the death of Howell Edmunds Jackson. Peckham was Cleveland's second choice after the Senate rejected his nomination of his brother, Wheeler Hazard Peckham. During his tenure, Peckham emerged as a leading advocate of substantive due process and economic laissez-faire principles. His most significant opinion was the majority decision in Lochner v. New York (1905), which struck down a New York law limiting bakers' working hours, arguing that such regulation violated the liberty of contract protected by the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause. This decision became emblematic of the "Lochner era," during which the Court frequently invalidated progressive labor legislation. Peckham also authored important opinions in cases involving interstate commerce and antitrust law. His judicial philosophy emphasized limited government intervention in economic affairs and strong protection of property rights. Though his constitutional interpretations were later largely repudiated during the New Deal era, Peckham's influence on early twentieth-century jurisprudence was substantial, and his writings remain significant in understanding the development of American constitutional law regarding economic regulation.

Notable opinions

• Lochner v. New York
• Holden v. Hardy