Justice Stephen Johnson Field was a very conservative Supreme Court justice who supported substantive due process. Additionally, Justice Field served the second longest term for a court justice ever which was around thirty four years. He was infamous at the time because of his support for corporations.
Justice Field was born in Haddam, Connecticut on November 4, 1816 but he after a short time his family moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts. He travelled quite often as he was sent to Turkey with his sister and her husband. They then moved to Athens, Greece and stayed there for a while until Field decided to return to Massachusetts and attend Williams College in 1833. After he graduated he studied with his brother, David Dudley Field, who was a very successful attorney. He then proceeded to migrate to California after the commencement of the California Gold Rush. Once he arrived in California it only took a short amount of time before he was made Marysville's mayor and judge. Field was very ambitious and decided to run for state senator but was defeated. However, in 1857 he was elected as the Supreme Court Justice for California. At this point the Civil War was in full effect and despite being a Democrat he was loyal to the Union cause.
Therefore, after the end of the civil war Field became a very well respected judge and was appointed by President Lincoln to the United States Supreme Court. Field viewed the 14th amendment and property as private entities that couldn't be infringed upon by government. His first challenge came with the Slaughter House Cases in which one company was given the right to use the slaughterhouses for free whereas the other companies were forced to pay a fee. The court ruled that the 14th amendment only protected basic rights and that it doesn't protect rights related to state citizenship. Additionally, Field struck down an income tax in the Pollock vs Farmers' Loan and Trust Case because he saw it as a threat to capitalism and businesses. These cases demonstrate Field's strong belief in substantive due process because he favored private property rights over the government's ability to regulate the economy. Field believed that the government was inherently corrupt which is why the economy would function better without any interference. During his tenure as a justice he attempted to get the Democratic presidential nomination but failed miserably. After an incredible thirty four years Field retired and later died on April 9, 1899 in Washington D.C.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Stephen-J-Field
https://law.jrank.org/pages/6875/Field-Stephen-Johnson.html
It is very interesting to see how Field's ambitions for America affect his ideals and rulings in the Supreme Court. The idea of him distrusting the government as an institution is also hilariously ironic, as he is serving a role in the government. In addition, his viewpoints are reminiscent of Jefferson's vision for an autocratic, agrarian society, so it is interesting to see remnants of early American ideas play out decades in the future.
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