Editing Stephen Johnson Field (section)

==U.S. Supreme Court justice==
[[Image:STField-SCjustice.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.740|Stephen Johnson Field]]
The number of seats on the [[United States Supreme Court]] was expanded from nine to ten in March 1863, as a result of the [[Tenth Circuit Act of 1863|Tenth Circuit Act]].<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.fjc.gov/history/legislation/landmark-legislation-tenth-circuit| title=Landmark Legislation: Tenth Circuit| publisher=Federal Judicial Center| location=Washington, D.C.| access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref> This gave President [[Abraham Lincoln]] an opportunity to [[Nomination and confirmation to the Supreme Court of the United States|nominate]] a new [[Associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States|associate justice]], which he did on March 6, 1863.<ref name=RL33225>{{cite report| last=McMillion| first=Barry J.| date= January 28, 2022| title=Supreme Court Nominations, 1789 to 2020: Actions by the Senate, the Judiciary Committee, and the President| url=https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/RL33225.pdf| publisher=Congressional Research Service| location=Washington, D.C.| access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref> Seeking to effect both a regional and political balance on the Court, Lincoln selected Field, a [[Western United States|westerner]] and [[War Democrat|Unionist Democrat]].<ref>{{cite web| first=Timothy| last=Sandefur| title=Happy birthday, Stephen J. Field!| date=November 4, 2010| url=https://pacificlegal.org/happy-birthday-stephen-j-field/| publisher=Pacific Legal Foundation| location=Sacramento, California| access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref> Field was confirmed by the [[United States Senate]] on March 10, 1863,<ref name=RL33225/> and took the [[Oath of office#Federal judiciary oaths|judicial oath of office]] on May 20, 1863.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/members_text.aspx| title= Justices 1789 to Present| publisher=Supreme Court of the United States| location=Washington, D.C.| access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref>

Field insisted on breaking [[John Marshall]]'s record of 34 years on the court, even when he was no longer able to handle the workload. His colleagues asked him to resign due to him being intermittently [[senile]],<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Era of Mellville Weston Fuller |first=Jeffrey B. |last=Morris |year=1981 |journal=Supreme Court Historical Society 1981 Yearbook |publisher=[[Supreme Court Historical Society]] |url=http://www.supremecourthistory.org/04_library/subs_volumes/04_c03_f.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061002223057/http://www.supremecourthistory.org/04_library/subs_volumes/04_c03_f.html |archive-date=October 2, 2006 }}</ref> but he refused; at one point [[John Marshall Harlan]] urged Field to retire, reminding Field that he had been part of a committee to urge Justice [[Robert Cooper Grier|Robert Grier]] to retire. Finding Field dozing in the robing room, Harlan later related what happened next: “The old man listened, gradually became alert, and finally, with his eyes blazing with the fire of youth, he burst out, ‘Yes, and a dirtier day’s work I never did in my life.'”<ref>{{Cite web |title=From Cover-Ups To Secret Plots: The Murky History Of Supreme Justices' Health |url=https://wamu.org/story/19/01/23/from-cover-ups-to-secret-plots-the-murky-history-of-supreme-justices-health/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=WAMU |language=en}}</ref>

In March 1896, he wrote what would be his final opinion on behalf of the Court, but remained on the bench for another twenty months, finally retiring on December 1, 1897.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Garrowt| first=David J.| title=Mental Decrepitude on the U.S. Supreme Court: The Historical Case for a 28th Amendment| date=Autumn 2000| volume=67| issue=4| journal=The University of Chicago Law Review| page=1009| url=https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5893&context=uclrev| access-date=February 18, 2022}}</ref> Field would become the last veteran of both the [[Taney Court]] and the [[Chase Court]] to remain on the bench. He would remain the [[List of United States Supreme Court justices by time in office|longest serving]] member of the Court until his record was surpassed by [[William O. Douglas]], who served from 1939 to 1975.

He died in Washington, D.C., on April 9, 1899, and was buried there in the [[Rock Creek Cemetery]].<ref>{{cite book| title=Stephen J. Field: Craftsman of the Law| last=Swisher| first=Carl Brent| page=449| url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015010252149&view=1up&seq=492| publisher=The Brookings Institution| location=Washington, D.C.| year=1930| access-date=February 18, 2022| via=HathiTrust}}</ref>

===Jurisprudence===
Field wrote 544 opinions, more than any other justice save for [[Samuel Freeman Miller|Samuel Miller]], [[John Paul Stevens|John P. Stevens]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.law360.com/articles/1128989/a-look-back-at-justice-stevens-most-important-opinions|title=A Look Back at Justice Stevens' Most Important Opinions - Law360|access-date=May 7, 2021|archive-date=May 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507155857/https://www.law360.com/articles/1128989/a-look-back-at-justice-stevens-most-important-opinions|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Clarence Thomas]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://ballotpedia.org/Clarence_Thomas_%28Supreme_Court%29 |title=Clarence Thomas (Supreme Court) - Ballotpedia<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=May 7, 2021 |archive-date=April 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415080144/https://ballotpedia.org/Clarence_Thomas_(Supreme_Court) |url-status=live }}</ref> (by comparison, Chief Justice Marshall wrote 508 opinions in his 34 years on the court).<ref>{{harvp|Tocklin|1997|loc = n. 174}}.</ref> According to journalist [[Brian Doherty (journalist)|Brian Doherty]], "Field was one of the pioneers of the concept (beloved by many [[Libertarian theories of law|libertarian legal thinkers]]) of [[substantive due process]] – the notion that the due process protected by the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] applied not merely to procedures but to the substance of laws as well."<ref>{{cite book |author-link = Brian Doherty (journalist) |last = Doherty |first = Brian |title = [[Radicals for Capitalism|Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement]] |page = 28 |year = 2007 }}</ref> Field's vocal advocacy of [[substantive due process]] was illustrated in his dissents to the ''[[Slaughter-House Cases]]'' and ''[[Munn v. Illinois]]''. In the ''Slaughter-House Cases'', Justice Field's dissent focused on the Privileges or Immunities clause, not the Due Process clause (which was important in the dissent of Justice Bradley as well as the dissent of Justice Swayne). In both ''Munn v. Illinois'' and ''[[Mugler v. Kansas]]'', Justice Field based his dissent on the protection of property interests by the Due Process clause. One of Field's most notable opinions was his majority opinion in ''[[Pennoyer v. Neff]]'', which set the standard on [[personal jurisdiction]] for the next 100 years. His views on due process were eventually adopted by the court's majority after he left the Supreme Court. In other cases he helped end the [[income tax]] (''[[Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Company]]''), limited [[United States antitrust law|antitrust law]] (''[[United States v. E.C. Knight Company]]''), and limited the power of the [[Interstate Commerce Commission]]. He also joined the majority in ''[[Plessy v. Ferguson]]'' that upheld [[racial segregation]]. Field dissented in the landmark case ''[[Strauder v. West Virginia]]'', where the majority opinion held that the exclusion of African-Americans from juries violated the Fourteenth Amendment's [[Equal Protection Clause]].

[[File:Justice Field.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Field's gravesite]]
Early in his career, Field wrote opinions against California's laws discriminating against the Chinese immigrants to that state.<ref>{{harvp|McCloskey|1951|pp= 109-111}}.</ref> Serving as an individual jurist in district court, he notably struck down the so-called '[[Pigtail Ordinance]]' in 1879, which was regarded as discriminating against Chinese, making him unpopular with the Californian public. In his 1884 district court ruling, ''In re [[Look Tin Eli|Look Tin Sing]]'', he declared that children born in U.S. jurisdictions are U.S. citizens regardless of ancestry.<ref name="looktinsing ruling">{{cite web |title=In re Look Tin Sing (Ruling) |url=http://libraryweb.uchastings.edu/library/research/special-collections/wong-kim-ark/21%20F.%20905.pdf |website=libraryweb.uchastings.edu |publisher=Federal Reporter 21 F. 905, Circuit Court, D. California, September 29, 1884 |access-date=8 April 2019 |archive-date=October 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201004060216/http://libraryweb.uchastings.edu/library/research/special-collections/wong-kim-ark/21%20F.%20905.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> However, as a member of the U.S. Supreme Court, he penned opinions infused with racist anti-Chinese-American rhetoric, most notably in his majority opinion in ''The Chinese Exclusion Case, [[Chae Chan Ping v. United States]],'' 130 U.S. 581 (1889), and in his dissent in ''Chew Heong v. United States'', 112 U.S. 536 (1884).

===Academic work===
In November 1885, Field served as an original trustee of [[Stanford University|Leland Stanford Junior University]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Leland Stanford Jr. University|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SD18851128.2.2&srpos=146&e=-------en--20--141--txt-txIN-%22t.+b.+mcfarland%22-------1|access-date=August 15, 2017|work=Sonoma Democrat|via=California Digital Newspaper Collection|date=November 28, 1885|page=1|archive-date=August 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170816063649/https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SD18851128.2.2&srpos=146&e=-------en--20--141--txt-txIN-%22t.+b.+mcfarland%22-------1|url-status=live}}</ref>