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Roscoe Conkling
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==Retirement== After resigning from the Senate in 1881, Conkling returned to the practice of law. As one of the original drafters of the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]], he claimed in a case which reached the Supreme Court, ''[[Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad]]'', 118 U.S. 394 (1886),<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://supreme.justia.com/us/116/138/case.html|title=San Mateo County v. Southern Pacific R. Co. 116 U.S. 138 (1885)|access-date=2016-08-06}}</ref> that the phrase "nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws" meant the drafters wanted corporations to be included, because they used the word "[[Personhood|person]]" and cited his personal diary from the period. Howard Jay Graham, a [[Stanford University]] historian considered the pre-eminent scholar on the Fourteenth Amendment, named this case the "[[conspiracy theory]]" and concluded that Conkling probably [[perjury|perjured]] himself for the benefit of his railroad friends.<ref>Graham, Howard J., The "Conspiracy Theory" of the Fourteenth Amendment, 47 Yale L. J. 371 (1938).</ref> ===Relationship with President Arthur=== Conkling and Arthur were so intimately associated that it was feared, after President Garfield was assassinated, that the killing had been done at Conkling's behest in order to install Arthur as president and bring about restoration of the patronage system of political appointments. After [[Inauguration of Chester A. Arthur|Arthur assumed the presidency]] upon Garfield's death in September 1881, Conkling attempted to sway his protégé into reversing the earlier appointment by Garfield of William H. Robertson as Collector of the Port of New York. Arthur, who would become an avid champion of civil service reform, refused.<ref name="WAPO 22722">{{cite news| first=Robert| last=Mitchell| title=The senator who said no to a seat on the Supreme Court — twice| date=February 27, 2022| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/02/27/roscoe-conkling-supreme-court/| newspaper=The Washington Post| access-date=April 3, 2022}}</ref> [[File:Conkling Nomination.JPG|thumb|President [[Chester A. Arthur]]'s 1882 nomination of Conkling to serve as an [[associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]]. Conkling was confirmed, but declined to serve]] On February 24, 1882, Arthur nominated Conkling as an associate justice of the Supreme Court, following the retirement of [[Ward Hunt]].<ref name="RL33225">{{cite report| last=McMillion| first=Barry J.| date=March 8, 2022| title=Supreme Court Nominations, 1789 to 2020: Actions by the Senate, the Judiciary Committee, and the President| url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33225.pdf| publisher=Congressional Research Service| location=Washington, D.C.| access-date=April 3, 2022}}</ref> Arthur submitted the nomination to the Senate not knowing whether Conkling would accept it or not.<ref name="WAPO 22722"/><ref name="Life Letters">{{cite book |last=Conkling|first=Alfred Ronald |date=1889 |title=Life and Letters of Roscoe Conkling |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924024243945 |quote=roscoe conkling decline supreme court.|location=New York, NY |publisher=Charles L. Webster & Company |page=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924024243945/page/n728 677]}}</ref> He was confirmed by the Senate on March 2, 1882, by a 39–12 vote,<ref name="RL33225"/> but declined to serve in a letter to Arthur citing "reasons you would not fail to appreciate."<ref name="WAPO 22722"/><ref name="Life Letters"/> The breach between Arthur and Conkling was never repaired.<ref name="WAPO 22722"/> Without Conkling's leadership, his Stalwart faction dissolved. However, upon Arthur's death in 1886, he attended the funeral and showed deep sorrow according to onlookers.
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