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Mahlon Pitney

Mahlon Pitney (1912-1922)

Mahlon Pitney lived from 1858 to 1924.

Early Life

Pitney was born in Morristown, New Jersey. He attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) with Woodrow Wilson. After graduating in 1879, Pitney began reading law in his father’s law office and passed the bar exam in 1882. He began his own private practice in Dover, but then returned to Morristown to acquire his father’s law firm. Pitney married Florence Shelton in 1891, and the two had three children.

Legal Career

Pitney successfully ran for the United States House of Representatives in 1894. He defeated the incumbent, Johnston Cornish, winning a seat in the 4th congressional district, where he served two terms. Pitney was also involved in local New Jersey politics. He served as chairman of the 1895 state Republican convention, and pushed for the gubernatorial nomination of John W. Griggs.

In 1898, Pitney resigned from the House to run for election to the New Jersey Senate, which he won. While in the state legislature, he served as the Republican party floor leader, until becoming Senate President in 1900. One year later, in 1901, Governor Foster M. Voorhees appointed Pitney to the New Jersey Supreme Court. After seven years, Pitney was elevated to the role of Chancellor of New Jersey.

Appointment to the Supreme Court

President William Howard Taft appointed Pitney to the United States Supreme Court in 1912. Pitney’s nomination was opposed by progressives in the Senate, but he was eventually confirmed by a 50-26 vote.

During Pitney’s tenure on the Court, he strongly supported substantive due process rights. For example, in his majority opinion in Coppage v. Kansas, the Court struck down a Kansas statute banning anti-union yellow-dog contracts as unconstitutional. The Court found that the states’ police power could not be legally used to ensure equality of bargaining power. Pitney also wrote the majority opinion in New York Central Railroad Co. v. White (1917), in which the Court upheld a New York state workman’s compensation statute, laying the foundation for the expansion of these statutes across the nation. In 1922, after suffering a stroke, Pitney was forced to resign from the bench

Death

Pitney died on December 9, 1924 in Washington, D.C. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, in Morristown, New Jersey.

Notable Cases

Coppage v. Kansas (1915)

New York Central Railroad Co. v. White (1917)

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The Amendments

  • Amendment1
    • Establishment ClauseFree Exercise Clause
    • Freedom of Speech
    • Freedoms of Press
    • Freedom of Assembly, and Petitition
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  • Amendment2
    • The Right to Bear Arms
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  • Amendment4
    • Unreasonable Searches and Seizures
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  • Amendment5
    • Due Process
    • Eminent Domain
    • Rights of Criminal Defendants
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Preamble to the Bill of Rights

Congress of the United States begun and held at the City of New-York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine.

THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.

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