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William Cushing

William Cushing (March 1, 1732 – September 13, 1810) was one of the original five associate justices of the United States Supreme Court; confirmed by the United States Senate on September 26, 1789, he served until his death.[2] His Supreme Court tenure of 20 years and 11 months was the longest among the Court's inaugural members.[3] In January 1796, he was nominated by President George Washington to become the Court's Chief Justice; though confirmed, he declined the appointment.[2] He was the last judge in the United States to wear a full wig (Court dress).[4][5]

For other people named William Cushing, see William Cushing (disambiguation).

William Cushing

George Washington

Seat established

Joseph Story

(1732-03-01)March 1, 1732
Scituate, Massachusetts Bay

September 13, 1810(1810-09-13) (aged 78)
Scituate, Massachusetts, U.S.

Harvard College (BA)

Early life and education[edit]

Cushing was born in Scituate, Massachusetts Bay, on March 1, 1732. The Cushing family had a long history in the area, settling Hingham in 1638. Cushing's father, John Cushing (1695–1778), was a provincial magistrate who in 1747 became an associate justice of the Superior Court of Judicature, the province's high court. William Cushing's grandfather John Cushing (1662–1737/38) was also a superior court judge and member of the governor's council.[6]


Cushing's mother, Mary Cotton Cushing, was a daughter of Josiah Cotton (1679/80–1756). They were descended from Rev. John Cotton, the great 17th century Puritan theologian. Josiah Cotton and Richard Fitzgerald, a teacher at a local Latin school, were responsible for young Cushing's early education.[7]


Cushing graduated from Harvard College in 1751 and became a member of the bar of Boston in 1755. After briefly practicing law in Scituate, he moved to Pownalborough (present-day Dresden, Maine, then part of Massachusetts), and became the first practicing attorney in the province's eastern district (as Maine was then known). In 1762 he was called to become a barrister, again the first in Maine. He practiced law until 1772, when he was appointed by Governor Thomas Hutchinson to replace his father (who had resigned) on the Superior Court bench.

Later life and death[edit]

In 1810, Cushing died in his hometown of Scituate, Massachusetts. He is buried in a small cemetery there which is also a state park.

Judiciary Act of 1789

List of nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States

List of United States Supreme Court cases prior to the Marshall Court

List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States

Abraham, Henry J. (1992). (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506557-3.

Justices and Presidents: A Political History of Appointments to the Supreme Court

Cushman, Clare (2001). The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies, 1789–1995 (2nd ed.). (Supreme Court Historical Society, Congressional Quarterly Books).  1-56802-126-7.

ISBN

Davies, Ross E.: "William Cushing, Chief Justice of the United States",

University of Toledo Law Review, Vol. 37, No. 3, Spring 2006

Flanders, Henry. . Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1874 at Google Books.

The Lives and Times of the Chief Justices of the United States Supreme Court

Frank, John P. (1995). Friedman, Leon; Israel, Fred L. (eds.). . Chelsea House Publishers. ISBN 0-7910-1377-4.

The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions

Hall, Kermit L., ed. (1992). . New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505835-6.

The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States

Marcus, Maeva; Perry, James R., eds. (1985). The Documentary History of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789-1800. Vol. 1. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

Martin, Fenton S.; Goehlert, Robert U. (1990). . Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Books. ISBN 0-87187-554-3.

The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography

Mauro, Tony: , Legal Times (September 19, 2005)

"The Chief Justice Who Wasn't There"

Rugg, Arthur (December 1920). "William Cushing". The Yale Law Journal. 30 (2): 128–144. :10.2307/787099. JSTOR 787099. (Rugg was chief justice of the Massachusetts SJC when he wrote this biographical sketch.)

doi

at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.

William Cushing

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Michael Lariens, William Cushing Biography

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Oyez, U.S. Supreme Court media, William Cushing Biography

Supreme Court Historical Society, William Cushing.