Morrison Remick Waite

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Chief Justice of the United States from 1874 to 1888

"Justice Waite" redirects here. For other uses, see Justice Waite (disambiguation) .

Morrison Remick "Mott" Waite (November 29, 1816 – March 23, 1888) was an American attorney, jurist, and politician from Ohio who served as the seventh chief justice of the United States from 1874 until his death in 1888. During his tenure, the Waite Court took a narrow interpretation of federal authority related to laws and amendments that were enacted during the Reconstruction Era to expand the rights of freedmen and protect them from attacks by white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan .

Born in Lyme, Connecticut , Waite established a legal practice in Toledo, Ohio , after graduating from Yale University . As a member of the Whig Party , Waite won election to the Ohio House of Representatives . An opponent of slavery , he helped establish the Ohio Republican Party . He served as a counsel in the Alabama Claims and presided over the 1873 Ohio constitutional convention .

After the May 1873 death of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase , President Ulysses S. Grant underwent a prolonged search for Chase's successor. With the backing of Secretary of the Interior Columbus Delano , Grant nominated Waite in January 1874. The nomination of the relatively obscure Waite was poorly received by some prominent politicians, but the Senate unanimously confirmed Waite and he took office in March 1874. Despite some support for his nomination, he declined to run for president in the 1876 election , arguing that the Supreme Court should not serve as a mere stepping stone to higher office. He served on the court until his death of pneumonia in 1888.

Waite did not emerge as an important intellectual force on the Supreme Court, but he was well regarded as an administrator and conciliator. He sought a balance between federal and state power and joined with most other Justices in narrowly interpreting the Reconstruction Amendments . His majority opinion in _Munn v. Illinois _ upheld government regulation of grain elevators and railroads and influenced constitutional understandings of government regulation. He also helped establish the legal concept of corporate personhood in the United States. However in the _Civil Rights Cases _ he sided with a majority to strike down the Civil Rights Act of 1875 , which had prohibited discrimination in access to public services, that was not restored until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 .

Early life and education

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Morrison Remick Waite was born on November 29, 1816, at Lyme, Connecticut , the son of Henry Matson Waite , an attorney, and his wife Maria Selden. His father later was appointed as a judge of the Superior Court and associate judge of the Supreme Court of Connecticut , serving 1834–1854; and appointed as chief justice of the latter from 1854 to 1857. Morrison had a brother Richard, with whom he later practiced law. His ancestors hailed from England and were New Englanders.

Waite attended Bacon Academy in Colchester, Connecticut , where one of his classmates was Lyman Trumbull . He graduated from Yale College in 1837, the same class that included Samuel J. Tilden , the 1876 Democratic presidential nominee. As a student at Yale, Waite became a member of the Skull and Bones and Brothers in Unity societies, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa society in 1837. Shortly after graduating, Waite became a law clerk for his father in 1837.

Soon afterward Waite moved to Maumee, Ohio , where he read law in the office of Samuel L. Young. He was admitted to the bar in 1839, and went into practice with Young. The law firm became prominent in business and property law. Waite was elected mayor of Maumee, and served from 1846 to 1847.

Marriage and family

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He married Amelia Champlin Warner on September 21, 1840 in Hartford, Connecticut . They had three sons together: Henry Seldon, Christopher Champlin, and Edward Tinker; and a daughter Mary Frances Waite.

Political and legal career

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In 1850, Waite and his family moved to Toledo, Ohio , where he set up a branch office of his law firm with Young. Waite soon came to be recognized as a leader of the state bar. When Young retired in 1856, Waite built a prosperous new firm with his brother Richard Waite. One of his partners in Toledo was George P. Estey , a man from New Hampshire who served as a Union Army general during the American Civil War .

An active member of the Whig Party , Waite was elected to a term in the Ohio House of Representatives in 1849–1850. He made two unsuccessful bids for the United States Senate , and was offered (but declined) a seat on the [Ohio Supreme Court](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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