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Supreme Court Justices

Howell Jackson (1832-1895)
Howell Jackson was born in Tennessee on April 8, 1832. Jackson graduated from West Tennessee College, and spent enrolled in the law school at Cumberland University. He read law, and began practicing in the late 1850s. Tennessee's seceded from the United States in spring 1861, and Howell accepted a position with the Confederate government in Tennessee, despite his apparent opposition to Tennessee's decision to secede. Jackson resumed his law practice in Tennessee after the Civil War, and in 1875 was appointed to Tennessee's Court of Arbitration for West Tennessee. After that court was abolished, and after failing to win election to the Tennessee Supreme Court, Jackson was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1880. Shortly thereafter, Jackson managed to win appointment to the United States Senate. In 1887, Jackson was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. In February 1893, lame duck Republican President Benjamin Harrison nominated the Democrat Jackson to the Supreme Court. The Senate confirmed his nomination before the end of the month.

Jackson participated in one of the most controversial episodes of the late 19th century court: after the Income Tax Cases (Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Company) were argued in early 1895, the Court was split 4-4 on the constitutionality of the income tax (a 2% tax on income greater than $4,000, which affected about 2% of the population). The case was reargued, and Jackson left his deathbed to hear the case and vote. He did vote, and his vote was to hold the tax constitutional. However, George Shiras apparently switched his position, which led Jackson to dissent vigorously, claiming that the decision was "the most disastrous blow ever struck at the constitutional power of Congress." Jackson joined the Court's opinions in the other two controversial cases from 1895, United States v. E.C. Knight (holding inapplicable Sherman Antitrust Act to sugar manufacturing monopoly on grounds interstate commerce not involved) and In re Debs (upholding labor injunction and contempt conviction of labor leader Eugene V. Debs in failed Pullman Strike of 1894).

Jackson returned to Tennessee after the Court's 1895 Term closed, and died on August 8, 1895.