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Grier Cooper Biography & Facts

Robert Cooper Grier (March 5, 1794 – September 25, 1870) was an American jurist who served on the Supreme Court of the United States. A Jacksonian Democrat from Pennsylvania who served from 1846 to 1870, Grier weighed in on some of the most important cases of the 19th century. As one of two Northern members of the majority in the Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) decision, Grier concurred that African Americans were not and were never meant to be citizens of the United States and that the property rights of slaveholders were clearly protected in the U.S. Constitution, after being pressured by President-elect James Buchanan to join the Southern majority in an attempt to prevent the appearance that the decision was made along sectional lines. In 1863, Grier wrote the majority opinion in the Prize Cases, upholding Abraham Lincoln's presidential power to institute Union blockades of Confederate ports, which granted the Union Army a strategic advantage in the American Civil War. Early life and education Grier was born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania to Elizabeth Cooper Grier and Isaac Grier, a Presbyterian minister and School teacher, who tutored him until he entered Dickinson College. Grier graduated from Dickinson in only one year, receiving a B.A. in 1812, and remained there as an instructor until taking a position at a school run by his father. He succeeded his father as headmaster in 1815. Career As a teacher at Dickinson College, Grier read law on his own time, passed the bar in 1817, and then entered private practice in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania until 1818, and then in Danville, Pennsylvania until 1833. In 1829, Grier married Isabelle Rose, the daughter of a wealthy Scottish immigrant. Grier was a political organizer for the Jacksonians in the Democrats. In 1833, Grier was rewarded with a patronage appointment to a judgeship on the Pennsylvania State District Court for Allegheny County, which seat was newly created for him. He served there for 13 years, during which he developed a reputation for competence. In 1848, Grier was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society. Supreme Court justice Associate justice of the United States Supreme Court Henry Baldwin died in April 1844, during the presidency of John Tyler. Twice Tyler attempted to fill the vacancy, nominating first Edward King and then John M. Read – both were rejected by the United States Senate. As a result, the seat was still vacant when James K. Polk became president in March 1845. Polk's first nominee for the seat, George Washington Woodward, was also rejected. On August 3, 1846, Polk nominated Grier, whom the Senate unanimously confirmed the following day. He was sworn into office on August 10, 1846. There had been an 841 day-long gap between the death of Henry Baldwin (April 21, 1844) and Robert Grier's swearing-in, which is the longest vacancy in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court. Economic cases Grier's most significant contributions to the Supreme Court and the Constitution are found in his decisions regarding slavery, particularly Dred Scott v. Sandford, and his support of the Union in the Prize Cases. In Cook v. Moffat (1847), William G. Cook of Maryland filed bankruptcy in his home state. He believed that, because he had made this decision under Maryland's insolvency laws, he escaped from all debts, including those that he owed to citizens and companies in other states. John L. Moffat and Joseph Curtis, the respondents in this case, thought otherwise. As citizens of New York, Moffat and Curtis argued that Maryland's bankruptcy laws did not free Cook from his obligations in other states. In his first majority opinion, Grier ruled in favor of Moffat and Curtis, finding that a State shall not "inflict her bankrupt laws on contracts and persons not within her limits." Perhaps more important than what Grier ruled in the case was how he ruled. Citing multiple opinions, Grier remarked that holding in favor of Cook would "overrule every case heretofore decided on this most difficult and intricate subject." To "depart from the safe maxim of stare decisis," said Grier, would be a grave mistake. Grier's respect for the Court's previous rulings constitutes an essential component of his first major opinion. Grier authored another decisive majority opinion on the question of contracts in Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad Company v. Louisa Railroad Company (1852). This case revolved around an 1834 charter issued by Virginia to the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad Company ("RFP"). The charter granted the RFP sole rights to transport passengers between Richmond and Fredericksburg for a period of thirty years, thus establishing a contract between the company and the state. Nonetheless, Virginia approved a charter to establish the Louisa Railroad Company ("LRC") in 1848. The LRC, which proposed to carry only freight, followed a route similar to that of the RFP. Feeling that its contract had been violated, the RFP filed suit. In a ruling that pays homage to Taney's Charles River Bridge (1837) opinion, Grier concentrated on strict construction of the charter: "Where do we find that the legislature have contracted to part with the power of constructing other railroads," Grier asked, "even between Richmond and Fredericksburg, for carrying coal or other freight?" Plainly answering himself, Grier explained that "such a contract cannot be elicited from the letter or spirit of this act," thus ruling in favor of the LRC. His decision clearly echoed Taney's call for economic progress and promotion of the public good in the Charles River Bridge decision that to deny the Louisa Railroad's rights would be a disservice to the people and businesses of Virginia. Conduct investigation In 1854, the United States House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee conducted an investigation of Grier's conduct in connection with a case then pending before the United States Supreme Court, Pennsylvania v. Wheeling and Belmont Bridge Company. Allegations were that Grier solicited a bribe in order to rule in favor of one of the parties, ignored the law in making his ruling, and leaked the Court's decision early in order to favor one of the parties (who was considering dismissal of the case). Ultimately, the House Judiciary Committee issued a report dismissing the allegations leveled against Grier, stating that Grier "is entirely and absolutely exonerated and freed from the charges preferred against him. There is absolutely nothing which can or will impair his reputation as a judge or an upright and honest man." Nonetheless, the committee's report is intriguing because it was authored by Hendrick B. Wright, who was a fellow Dickinson alumnus and defeated for reelection in the next Congress, indications of probable bias in the justice's favor. Thus, it is unclear whether Grier was guilty of the allegations leveled against him. Slavery cases Slavery was the most important political and constit.... Discover the Grier Cooper popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Grier Cooper books.