Editing Stephen Johnson Field (section)

==Career in California politics and law==
In California, Field's legal practice boomed and he was elected [[alcalde]], a form of mayor and [[justice of the peace]] under the old Mexican rule of law, of [[Marysville, California|Marysville]] (curiously, he was elected Alcalde just three days after his arrival in Marysville).<ref>{{cite journal |first = Adrian M. |last = Tocklin |title = ''Pennoyer v. Neff'': The Hidden Agenda of Stephen J. Field |journal = Seton Hall Law Review |year = 1997 |page = 104 }}</ref> Because the Gold Rush city could not afford a jail, and it cost too much to transport prisoners to San Francisco, Field implemented{{clarify|date=July 2013}} the whipping post, believing that without such a brutal implement many in the rough and tumble city would be hanged for minor crimes. The voters sent him to the [[California State Assembly]] in 1850 to represent [[Yuba County, California|Yuba County]], but he lost a race the next year for the [[California State Senate|State Senate]]. His successful legal practice led to his election to the [[Supreme Court of California|California Supreme Court]] in 1857, serving six years.<ref>{{harvp|McCloskey|1951|pp= 96-97}}.</ref>

Field was determined and vengeful when others disagreed with him, and he easily made enemies. An  opponent of his wrote that  Field's life would be "found to be one series of little-mindedness, meanlinesses, of braggadocio, pusillanimity, and contemptible vanity."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/supremecourt/personality/robes_field.html |title=Stephen Johnson Field |access-date=March 3, 2020 |archive-date=March 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200303171524/https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/supremecourt/personality/robes_field.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

While serving on the California Supreme Court, Field had a special coat made with pockets large enough to hold two pistols so that he could fire the weapons inside the pockets.<ref>{{harvp|Tocklin|1997|p= 102}}.</ref> In 1858 he was challenged to a duel by a fellow Judge (William T. Barbour) but at the dueling ground, neither man fired his gun.<ref>{{harvp|Tocklin|1997|p= 105}}.</ref>

In 1859 Field replaced the former chief justice of the California Supreme Court, [[David S. Terry]], because Judge Terry killed a United States Senator from California ([[David Colbreth Broderick]]) in a duel and left the state.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=J. Edward|title=History of the California Supreme Court: The Justices 1850–1900 |volume= 1|date=1963|publisher=Bender Moss Co|location=San Francisco|pages=65–72|url=http://library.courtinfo.ca.gov/included/docs/SCJC_Vol_1.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817124828/http://library.courtinfo.ca.gov/included/docs/SCJC_Vol_1.pdf|archive-date=August 17, 2018|access-date=August 14, 2017}}</ref> Field and Terry's paths crossed again 30 years later when Field, acting in his capacity as a circuit judge of the 9th [[United States circuit court|Federal Circuit Court]], ruled against Terry in a convoluted divorce case (and had him sent to jail for contempt of court as well). Seeking revenge, Terry attempted to kill Field in 1889 near [[Stockton, California]], but was instead shot dead by Field's bodyguard, U.S. Marshal [[David Neagle|David B. Neagle]]. Legal issues arising from the killing of Terry came before the Supreme Court in the 1890 [[habeas corpus]] case of ''[[In re Neagle]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=George C. |last=Gorham|title=The Story of the Attempted Assassination of Justice Field by a Former Associate on the Supreme Bench of California|magazine=Journal of the Supreme Court Historical Society|volume=30|issue=2|year=2005|doi=10.1111/j.1540-5818.2005.00102.x|pages=105–194}}</ref> The Court ruled the [[United States Attorney General]] had authority to appoint U.S. Marshals as bodyguards to Supreme Court justices and Marshal Neagle had acted within the scope of his authority in shooting Terry. Field [[recuse]]d himself from the case.<ref>{{cite web|title=In the Matter of David Neagle |url=https://www.usmarshals.gov/history/neagle/neagle5.htm|website=U.S. Marshals Service |access-date=10 March 2017|ref=2|archive-date=February 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213065039/https://www.usmarshals.gov/history/neagle/neagle5.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>