George Sutherland
George Alexander Sutherland (March 25, 1862 – July 18, 1942) was an English-born American jurist and politician. He served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court between 1922 and 1938. As a member of the Republican Party, he also represented Utah in both houses of Congress.
For other people named George Sutherland, see George Sutherland (disambiguation).
George A. Sutherland
July 18, 1942 (aged 80)
Stockbridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Liberal (1883–1896)
Republican (1896–1942)
3
Born in Buckinghamshire, England, Sutherland and his family moved to the Utah Territory in the 1860s. After attending the University of Michigan Law School, Sutherland established a legal practice in Provo, Utah, and won election to the Utah State Senate. Sutherland won election to the United States House of Representatives in 1900 and to the United States Senate in 1905. In Congress, Sutherland supported several progressive policies but generally aligned with the party's conservative wing. He won re-election in 1911 but was defeated in the 1916 election by Democrat William H. King.
Sutherland made up part of the "Four Horsemen", a group of conservative justices that often voted to strike down New Deal legislation. He retired from the Supreme Court in 1938, and was succeeded by Stanley Forman Reed. Sutherland wrote the Court's majority opinion in cases such as Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., Powell v. Alabama, Carter v. Carter Coal Co., Adkins v. Children's Hospital, and U.S. v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp..
Early life[edit]
Sutherland was born in Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire, England, to a Scottish father, Alexander George Sutherland, and an English mother, Frances (née Slater). A recent convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Alexander moved the family to the Utah Territory in the summer of 1863 and initially settled his family in Springville, Utah but moved to Montana and prospected for a few years before moving his family back to Utah Territory in 1869, where he pursued a number of different occupations.[2] In the 1870s, the Sutherland family left the Church, with George remaining unbaptized.[3]
At the age of 12, the need to help his family financially forced Sutherland to leave school and take a job, first as a clerk in a clothing store and then as an agent of the Wells Fargo Company. However, Sutherland aspired to a higher education, and in 1879, he had saved enough to attend Brigham Young Academy. There, he studied under Karl G. Maeser, who proved an important influence in his intellectual development, most notably by introducing Sutherland to the ideas of Herbert Spencer, which would form an enduring part of Sutherland's philosophy. After graduating in 1881, Sutherland worked for the Rio Grande Western Railroad for a little over a year before moving to Michigan to enroll in the University of Michigan Law School, where he was a student of Thomas M. Cooley.[4] Sutherland left school before earning his law degree.
Early career[edit]
After admission to the Michigan bar, he married Rosamond Lee in 1883, and produced two daughters and a son. Afterwards, Sutherland moved back to Utah Territory, where he joined his father (who had also become a lawyer) in a partnership in Provo. In 1886, they dissolved their partnership and Sutherland formed a new one with Samuel R. Thurman, a future chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court. Their partnership later included Edgar A. Wedgwood who served as adjutant general of the Utah National Guard.[5] After running unsuccessfully as the Liberal Party candidate for mayor of Provo, Sutherland moved to Salt Lake City in 1893. There, he joined one of the state's leading law firms, and the following year was one of the organizers of the Utah State Bar Association. In 1896, he was elected as a Republican to the new Utah State Senate, where he served as chairman of the senate's Judiciary Committee and sponsored legislation granting powers of eminent domain to mining and irrigation companies.[6]
Post-Court life and death[edit]
Following his retirement, Sutherland sat by special designation as a member of the Second Circuit panel that reviewed the bribery conviction of former Second Circuit Chief Judge Martin Manton, and authored the court's opinion upholding the conviction.
While vacationing with his wife at a resort in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Sutherland suffered a severe heart attack and died in his sleep some time between 4:00 AM and 9:30 AM on July 18, 1942, his wife by his side. They had celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary just 29 days earlier.[15]
Sutherland was interred at Abbey Mausoleum in Arlington County, Virginia. In 1958, his remains were removed and reburied at Cedar Hill Cemetery near Suitland, Maryland.[16]
Religion[edit]
As an infant, Sutherland had been baptized in the Anglican church,[17] and his religion is often listed as Episcopalian.[18][19][20] Sutherland was never a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as his parents left the Church in his childhood.[3] However, he maintained loyal friendships with prominent Latter-day Saints, and fondly remembered his time at Brigham Young Academy.[21] Sutherland rejected the Latter-day Saint tradition, specifically "collectivist economic practices," but he had studied the religion at Brigham Young Academy and followed the Latter-day Saint practice of alcohol abstinence.[22] Lawyer and commentator Jay Sekulow wrote that some of Sutherland's views had been influenced by the Latter-day Saints.[23] As of 2021, Sutherland is the last non-LDS Senator from Utah.