Stanley Matthews

Details

Birth

July 21, 1824 · Cincinnati, Ohio

Death

March 22, 1889

Law school

kenyon college; read law (Self taught)

Prior experience

Various legal and public service prior to appointment

Biography

I believe there may be some confusion in your request. There has never been an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court named Stanley Matthews. However, there was a Justice named **Stanley Matthews** (without the "s") who served on the Court. Stanley Matthews (1824-1889) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1881 until his death in 1889. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Matthews graduated from Kenyon College in 1840 and studied law before being admitted to the Ohio bar in 1842. He served as a judge on the Ohio Superior Court, a U.S. Attorney, and later as a U.S. Senator from Ohio from 1877 to 1879. Matthews also had a distinguished military career, serving as a lieutenant colonel in the Union Army during the Civil War. President Rutherford B. Hayes first nominated Matthews to the Supreme Court in January 1881, but the Senate took no action on the nomination before Hayes left office. President James A. Garfield renominated Matthews in March 1881, and he was confirmed by the narrow margin of 24-23, making him one of the most contentiously confirmed justices in Court history. The opposition stemmed largely from his previous work as a railroad attorney and concerns about potential conflicts of interest. During his brief eight-year tenure, Matthews authored relatively few major opinions but was known for his moderate approach and legal craftsmanship. His most notable opinion came in *Yick Wo v. Hopkins* (1886), where he wrote for a unanimous Court that a facially neutral law applied in a discriminatory manner violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. Matthews died in office in 1889, leaving behind a modest but respectable judicial legacy.

Notable opinions

• Yick Wo v. Hopkins
• Hurtado v. California