Joseph P. Bradley
Position
Associate Justice
Seat
11
Nominated By
Grant
Commissioned on
Sunday, March 20, 1870
Sworn In
Tuesday, March 22, 1870
Left Office
Thursday, January 21, 1892
Reason For Leaving
Death
Length of Service
21 years, 9 months, 30 days
Home
New Jersey
The Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States (Artist: Edmund Clarence Messer)
Biography
Joseph P. Bradley rose to a seat on the nation's highest court without benefit of family fame or fortune. Bradley rose from a humble beginning. The oldest of eleven children, he was raised on a small New York farm. His aptitude earned him entrance to Rutgers University. Three years after graduating, Bradley entered legal practice and became a prominent railroad lawyer and Republican activist. He had a deep commitment to learning and amassed a personal library of 16,000 books.
Ulysses S. Grant appointed Bradley to the Supreme Court in 1870. He advocated a broad nationalist view of the commerce clause and of the Fourteenth Amendment. But Bradley voted with the majority in several cases that denied national protection for the rights of blacks. His most famous statement on matters of race came in the Civil Rights Cases (1883).
Which player's contribution to baseball best matches Joseph P. Bradley's contribution to law?
Cite this Page
Joseph P. Bradley. The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. 27 April 2013. <http://www.oyez.org/justices/joseph_p_bradley>.
Joseph P. Bradley, The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, http://www.oyez.org/justices/joseph_p_bradley (last visited April 27, 2013).
"Joseph P. Bradley," The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, accessed April 27, 2013, http://www.oyez.org/justices/joseph_p_bradley.