Stanley Matthews (lawyer)

Stanley Matthews
Portrait of Matthews taken by Mathew Brady between 1870 and 1880.
Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court
In office May 12, 1881 – March 22, 1889
Nominated by	James Garfield
Preceded by	Noah Haynes Swayne
Succeeded by	David Josiah Brewer
Personal details
Born	July 21, 1824(1824-07-21) Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Died	March 22, 1889(1889-03-22) (aged 64) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Spouse(s)	Mary A. Matthews

Thomas Stanley Matthews (July 21, 1824 – March 22, 1889), known as Stanley Matthews, was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from May 1881 to his death in 1889. Matthews was the Court's 46th justice. Before his appointment to the Court by President James Garfield, Matthews served as a senator from his home state of Ohio.

Matthews was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and studied at Kenyon College. He practiced law in Cincinnati before moving to Maury County, Tennessee, where he practiced from 1840 to 1845. After editing the Cincinnati Herald for two years from 1846 to 1848, Matthews was selected to serve as the clerk of the Ohio House of Representatives and as a county judge in Hamilton County. He was then elected to the Ohio State Senate, where he served in 1856 and 1857. He was then appointed as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, serving from 1858 to 1861.

In 1861, Matthews resigned as United States Attorney to serve as a lieutenant colonel with the 23rd Ohio Infantry of the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Matthews ran for the United States House of Representatives in 1876, but was defeated. A year later, he won a special election to the Senate to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of John Sherman. He did not seek reelection.

Early in 1881, President Rutherford B. Hayes nominated Matthews for a position as an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Matthews was a controversial nominee, and as the nomination came near the end of Hayes's term, the Senate did not act on it. Upon succeeding Hayes, incoming President James A. Garfield renominated Matthews, and the Senate confirmed him by a vote of 24 to 23, the narrowest confirmation for a successful U.S. Supreme Court nominee in history. He served on the Court until his death in 1889.

His funeral was attended by many luminaries.

His remains are interred at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio Also interred there is John McLean, another Associate Justice.  

A collection of Justice Matthews's correspondence and other papers are located at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center library in Fremont, Ohio and open for research. Additional papers and collections are at: Cincinnati Historical Society, Cincinnati, Ohio; Library of Congress, Manuscript and Prints & Photographs Divisions, Washington, D.C.; Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio; .Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City, New York; State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Archives Division, Madison, Wisconsin; .and Mississippi State Department of Archives and History, Jackson, Mississippi.

See also

Demographics of the Supreme Court of the United States List of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States

List of United States Chief Justices by time in office List of U.S. Supreme Court Justices by time in office United States Supreme Court cases during the Waite Court United States Supreme Court cases during the Fuller Court

Further reading

• Abraham, Henry J. (1992). Justices and Presidents: A Political History of Appointments to the Supreme Court (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506557-3. 
• Bibliography, biography and location of papers, Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
• Cushman, Clare (2001). The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies, 1789–1995 (2nd ed.). (Supreme Court Historical Society, Congressional Quarterly Books). ISBN 1568021267. 
• Frank, John P. (1995). Friedman, Leon; Israel, Fred L.. eds. The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions. Chelsea House Publishers. ISBN 0791013774. 
• Furer, Howard B., ed. (1986). The Fuller Court, 1888-1910. (The Supreme Court in American Life Series.). New York: Associated Faculty Press, Inc.. ISBN 0867330600; ISBN 9780867330601. 
• Hall, Kermit L., ed. (1992). The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195058356. 
• Martin, Fenton S.; Goehlert, Robert U. (1990). The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Books. ISBN 0871875543. 
• Urofsky, Melvin I. (1994). The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary. New York: Garland Publishing. pp. 590. ISBN 0815311761. 

External links

• Ariens, Michael, Stanley Matthews.
• Stanley Matthews (lawyer) at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• "Stanley Matthews (lawyer)". Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5694. Retrieved 2008-02-14. 
• Stanley Matthews, Supreme Court Historical Society.
• Oyez Official Supreme Court media, Stanley Matthews.

United States Senate
Preceded by John Sherman	United States Senator (Class 3) from Ohio 1877–1879 Served alongside: Allen G. Thurman	Succeeded by George H. Pendleton
Legal offices
Preceded by Noah Haynes Swayne	Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States May 12, 1881 – March 22, 1889	Succeeded by David Josiah Brewer