Alexander George Sutherland (March 25, 1862 – July 18, 1942) was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
-born U.S. jurist and political figure. One of four appointments to the Supreme Court by President
Warren G. HardingWarren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...
, he served as an
Associate JusticeAssociate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States...
of the
U.S. Supreme CourtThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
between 1922 and 1938.
Early life and career
Sutherland was born in
BuckinghamshireBuckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, 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 (LDS Church), Alexander Sutherland moved the family to Utah in the summer of 1863. A few years after his arrival, however, Sutherland's father renounced his belief in Mormonism, and it does not appear that Sutherland himself was ever baptized into the LDS Church. Initially Alexander Sutherland settled his family in
Springville, UtahSpringville is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Provo–Orem, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 20,424 at the 2000 census, while the 2008 estimates placed it at 28,520. Just minutes south of Provo, Springville is a bedroom community for...
, but moved to
MontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
and
prospectedProspecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...
for a few years before moving his family back to Utah in 1869, where he pursued a number of different occupations.
At the age of twelve, the need to help his family financially forced Sutherland to leave school and take a job, first as a clerk in a clothing store, then as an agent of the
Wells Fargo CompanyThis article outlines the history of Wells Fargo & Company from its origins to its merger with Norwest and beyond. The new company chose to retain the name of "Wells Fargo" and so this article also includes the history after the merger.-Origins:...
. Yet Sutherland aspired to a higher education, and in 1879 had saved enough to attend Brigham Young Academy. There he studied under
Karl G. Maeser-Brigham Young Academy:When Maeser arrived at Brigham Young Academy in 1876 it was dying. Enrollment had declined since Warren N. Dusenberry had started the school a few months before. There were only 29 students at the time of Maeser's arrival....
, who proved an important influence in his intellectual development, most notably by introducing Sutherland to the ideas of
Herbert SpencerHerbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....
, which would form an enduring part of Sutherland's philosophy. After graduating in 1881, Sutherland worked for the
Rio Grande Western RailroadThe Utah Division of the former Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad is a rail line that connects Grand Junction, Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah in the Western United States. It is now incorporated into the Union Pacific Railroad system as its Green River and Provo Subdivisions, forming a...
for a little over a year before moving to Michigan to enroll in the
University of Michigan Law SchoolThe University of Michigan Law School is the law school of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor. Founded in 1859, the school has an enrollment of about 1,200 students, most of whom are seeking Juris Doctor or Master of Laws degrees, although the school also offers a Doctor of Juridical...
, where he was a student of
Thomas M. CooleyThomas McIntyre Cooley, LL.D., was the 25th Justice and a Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, between 1864 and 1885. Born in Attica, New York, he was father to Charles Cooley, a distinguished American sociologist...
.
Sutherland left school before earning his law degree. After admission to the Michigan bar, he married Rosamond Lee in 1883; their marriage proved a happy one, and produced two daughters and a son. After his marriage, Sutherland moved back to Utah, where he joined his father (who had also become a lawyer) in a partnership in
ProvoProvo is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Utah, located about south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the county seat of Utah County and lies between the cities of Orem to the north and Springville to the south...
. In 1886, they dissolved their partnership and Sutherland formed a new one with Samuel Thurman, a future chief justice of the
Utah Supreme CourtThe Utah Supreme Court is the supreme court of the state of Utah, USA. It has final authority of interpretation of the Utah Constitution. The Utah Supreme Court is composed of five members: a chief justice, an associate chief justice, and three justices. All justices are appointed by the governor...
. After running unsuccessfully as the
Liberal PartyThe Liberal Party, like the People's Party, flourished in Utah Territory as a local political party in the latter half of the 19th century—before Democrats and Republicans established themselves in Utah in the early 1890s....
candidate for mayor of Provo, Sutherland moved to
Salt Lake CitySalt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
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
RepublicanThe Utah State Republican Party works to nominate and support the election of Republican candidates in partisan races for public office in the state of Utah...
to the newly created
Utah State SenateThe Utah State Senate is the upper house of the Utah State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. The Senate is composed of 29 elected members representing an equal number of constituent senatorial districts. Each senatorial district is composed of approximately 91,000 people...
, where he served as chairman of the senate's Judiciary Committee and sponsored legislation granting powers of
eminent domainEminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
to mining and irrigation companies.
Years in Congress
In 1900, Sutherland received the Republican nomination as the party's candidate for Utah's seat in the federal
House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
. In the subsequent election, Sutherland narrowly defeated his
DemocraticThe Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
incumbent (and former law partner),
William H. KingWilliam Henry King was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist from Salt Lake City, Utah. A Democrat, he represented Utah in the United States Senate from 1917 until 1941.-Life:...
, by 241 votes out of over 90,000 cast. He went on to serve as a Representative in the 57th Congress, where he fought to maintain the
tariffA tariff may be either tax on imports or exports , or a list or schedule of prices for such things as rail service, bus routes, and electrical usage ....
on sugar and was active in both
Indian affairsNative Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
and legislation addressing the irrigation of arid lands.
Sutherland declined to run for a second term and returned to Utah in order to campaign for election to the
United States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
. With the state legislature firmly under Republican control, the contest was an intra-party battle with the incumbent,
Thomas KearnsThomas Kearns was a mining, banking, railroad and newspaper magnate. He was elected United States Senator from Utah from 1901 to 1905.- Immigration and mining :...
. With the backing of Utah's other senator,
Reed SmootReed Owen Smoot was a native-born Utahn who was first elected to the United States Senate from Utah in 1903, and served as a Senator until 1933...
, Sutherland secured the unanimous support of the caucus in January 1905. Sutherland repaid his debt to Smoot in 1907 by speaking on the floor in the Senate in defense of the senior senator during the climax of the Smoot hearings.
Sutherland's tenure in the Senate coincided with the
Progressive EraThe Progressive Era in the United States was a period of social activism and political reform that flourished from the 1890s to the 1920s. One main goal of the Progressive movement was purification of government, as Progressives tried to eliminate corruption by exposing and undercutting political...
in American politics. He voted for much of
Theodore RooseveltTheodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
' s legislative program, including the
Pure Food and Drug ActThe Pure Food and Drug Act of June 30, 1906, is a United States federal law that provided federal inspection of meat products and forbade the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated food products and poisonous patent medicines...
, the
Hepburn ActThe Hepburn Act is a 1906 United States federal law that gave the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to set maximum railroad rates. This led to the discontinuation of free passes to loyal shippers. In addition, the ICC could view the railroads' financial records, a task simplified by...
, and the
Federal Employers Liability ActThe Federal Employers Liability Act , 45 U.S.C. § 51 et seq. , is a United States federal law that protects and compensates railroaders injured on the job.-Background:...
. He was also "a longstanding women’s rights advocate. He introduced the
Nineteenth AmendmentThe Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920....
into the Senate . . . campaigned for the passage of that amendment, helped draft the
Equal Rights AmendmentThe Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and, in 1923, it was introduced in the Congress for the first time...
, and was a friend and adviser of
Alice PaulAlice Stokes Paul was an American suffragist and activist. Along with Lucy Burns and others, she led a successful campaign for women's suffrage that resulted in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920.-Activism: Alice Paul received her undergraduate education from...
of the
National Woman's PartyThe National Woman's Party , was a women's organization founded by Alice Paul in 1915 that fought for women's rights during the early 20th century in the United States, particularly for the right to vote on the same terms as men...
." Yet he generally sided with the "Old Guard" of conservatives who battled with their Progressive counterparts within the party during
William Howard TaftWilliam Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
's presidency. He was also involved closely with the legal codification of the period, and joined Taft in opposing the legislation admitting
New MexicoNew Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
and
ArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
into the union because of clauses within their constitutions allowing for the
recall of judgesA recall election is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a direct vote before his or her term has ended...
.
The election of
Woodrow WilsonThomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
and the Democratic takeover of Congress in 1912 put Sutherland and the other conservatives on the defensive. By now a national figure, Sutherland opposed many of Wilson's legislative proposals and foreign policy measures. Sutherland's opposition contributed to his defeat in 1916, when he faced reelection for the first time under the terms of the
Seventeenth AmendmentThe Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution established direct election of United States Senators by popular vote. The amendment supersedes Article I, § 3, Clauses 1 and 2 of the Constitution, under which senators were elected by state legislatures...
. Once again he faced William H. King, who campaigned on Sutherland's opposition to the popular president. Following his Senate defeat, he resumed the private practice of law in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and served as President of the
American Bar AssociationThe American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
from 1916 to 1917.
Supreme Court
On September 5, 1922, Sutherland was nominated by President
Warren G. HardingWarren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...
to the
Associate JusticeAssociate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States...
seat on the
Supreme Court of the United StatesThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
vacated by
John Hessin ClarkeJohn Hessin Clarke was an American lawyer and judge who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1916 to 1922.-Early life:...
. Sutherland was confirmed by the
United States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
on September 5, 1922, and received his commission the same day.
Sutherland wrote a decision refusing to declare unconstitutional a local
zoningZoning is a device of land use planning used by local governments in most developed countries. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another...
ordinance, in
Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Ambler Realty Co.Village of Euclid, Ohio v. Ambler Realty Co., , more commonly Euclid v. Ambler, was a United States Supreme Court case argued in 1926...
. The decision was widely interpreted as a general endorsement of the constitutionality of zoning laws.
During Franklin Roosevelt's early years in office as president, Justice Sutherland along with
James Clark McReynoldsJames Clark McReynolds was an American lawyer and judge who served as United States Attorney General under President Woodrow Wilson and as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court...
,
Pierce ButlerPierce Butler was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1923 until his death in 1939...
and
Willis Van DevanterWillis Van Devanter was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, January 3, 1911 to June 2, 1937.- Early life and career :...
, was part of the conservative
Four HorsemenThe "Four Horsemen" was the nickname given by the press to four conservative members of the United States Supreme Court during the 1932–1937 terms, who opposed the New Deal agenda of President Franklin Roosevelt. They were Justices Pierce Butler, James Clark McReynolds, George Sutherland,...
, who were instrumental in striking down Roosevelt's
New DealThe New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
legislation. Sutherland was regarded as the leader of this conservative bloc of judges as well. Important decisions authored by Sutherland include the 1932 case
Powell v. AlabamaPowell v. Alabama was a United States Supreme Court decision which determined that in a capital trial, the defendant must be given access to counsel upon his or her own request as part of due process.-Background of the case:...
, overturning a conviction in the
Scottsboro BoysThe Scottsboro Boys were nine black teenage boys accused of rape in Alabama in 1931. The landmark set of legal cases from this incident dealt with racism and the right to a fair trial...
Case because the defendant, Ozie Powell, was deprived of his right to counsel, and
U.S. v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp..
In
United States v. Bhagat Singh ThindUnited States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, 261 U.S. 204 , was a case in which the United States Supreme Court decided that Bhagat Singh Thind, who was a Punjabi Sikh, settled in Oregon, could not be a naturalized citizen of the United States, because he was not a "white person" in the sense intended in...
(1923), Sutherland authored a decision that classified Indians, although classified as members of the "
Caucasian raceThe term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...
," as not white within the meaning of the
Naturalization Act of 1790The original United States Naturalization Law of March 26, 1790 provided the first rules to be followed by the United States in the granting of national citizenship. This law limited naturalization to immigrants who were "free white persons" of "good moral character". It thus left out indentured...
, and thus ineligible for naturalized American citizenship.
In 1937, the Supreme Court began to side with New Deal policies and Sutherland's influence declined. Sutherland retired from the U.S. Supreme Court on January 17, 1938, as the balance of power in the US Supreme Court was shifting away from him. Following his retirement as a Justice, Sutherland sat by special designation as a member of the
Second CircuitThe United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals...
panel that reviewed the bribery conviction of former Second Circuit Chief Judge
Martin MantonMartin Thomas Manton was a prominent United States federal Judge in New York City, sometimes remembered for having resigned and served time in prison for accepting bribes while in office. In 1916 he was the youngest federal judge in the United States.-Biography:He was born on August 2, 1880...
, and authored the court's opinion upholding the conviction.
See also
Further reading
- Abraham, Henry J., Justices and Presidents: A Political History of Appointments to the Supreme Court. 3d. ed. (New York: Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, 1992). ISBN 0-19-506557-3.
- Cushman, Clare, The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies,1789-1995 (2nd ed.) (Supreme Court Historical Society), (Congressional Quarterly
Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is a privately owned publishing company that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress...
Books, 2001) ISBN 1568021267; ISBN 9781568021263.
- Frank, John P., The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions (Leon Friedman and Fred L. Israel, editors) (Chelsea House Publishers: 1995) ISBN 0791013774, ISBN 978-0791013779.
- Olken, Samuel R. "Justice Sutherland Reconsidered," Vanderbilt Law Review, 62 (March 2009), 639–93
- Urofsky, Melvin I., The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary (New York: Garland Publishing 1994). 590 pp. ISBN 0815311761; ISBN 978-0815311768.
External links