Rufus Wheeler Peckham

Judge, born in Albany, New York, USA. He served on New York's supreme court (1883–6) and court of appeals (1886–95). President Grover Cleveland named him to the US Supreme Court (1896–1909), where he wrote almost 400 opinions.

Rufus Wheeler Peckham

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Term in office
January 6, 1896 – October 24, 1909
Preceded by	Howell Edmunds Jackson
Succeeded by	Horace Harmon Lurton
Nominated by	Grover Cleveland
Born	November 8, 1838 Albany, New York
Died	October 24, 1909

Rufus Wheeler Peckham (November 8, 1838 - October 24, 1909) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1895 until 1909. His older brother, Wheeler Hazard Peckham (1833 – 1905), was one of the lawyers who prosecuted Boss Tweed, and a failed nominee to the Supreme Court.

Peckham was born in Albany, New York to Rufus Wheeler Peckham and Isabella Adeline; Peckham then returned to private legal practice and served as counsel to the City of Albany, until being elected as a trial judge on the New York Supreme Court in 1883. In 1886, Peckham was elected to the New York Court of Appeals, the highest court in the state. This was the third position that Peckham had held after his father, who had also served as the Albany D.A., on the New York Supreme Court, and finally on the Court of Appeals until his death in a mid-ocean collision between two ships in 1873. Many believed these relationships predisposed Peckham to favor business interests while on the Supreme Court.

Rufus Peckham's brother Wheeler was a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Grover Cleveland, in 1894.

Peckham's stint on the Court has been called by many scholars the height of "laissez-faire" constitutionalism, during which the Court regularly struck down efforts to regulate labor standards and relations.

Peckham served on the Court until his death on October 24, 1909, at age 70, writing 303 opinions and dissenting only nine times.

Preceded by: Howell Edmunds Jackson

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States January 6, 1896 – October 24, 1909

Succeeded by: Horace Harmon Lurton