# Robert Cooper Grier *Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1846–1870* Robert Cooper Grier (March 5, 1794 – September 25, 1870) sat as an Associate Justice of the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] from 1846 to 1870.[^1] He served on the Taney Court as a Northern Democrat. He and [[Samuel Nelson]] were the court's two "doughfaces": Northerners who opposed abolition and whose votes supported slavery.[^1] In *Dred Scott v. Sandford*, Grier joined the majority. The majority held unconstitutional the Missouri Compromise provision that barred slavery north and west of the federal territory, and held that Congress lacked authority to regulate slavery in the territories.[^2] According to the source, President-elect James Buchanan pressured Grier to side with the Southern majority, in an attempt to keep the ruling from appearing to divide along sectional lines.[^2] Grier nonetheless opposed the secession of the Confederate States of America.[^3] In 1863 he wrote the majority opinion in the *Prize Cases*. It upheld the authority of President [[Abraham Lincoln]] to order Union blockades of Confederate ports during the American Civil War.[^3] ## Early life and education Grier was born on March 5, 1794, in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. He was the eldest of the eleven children of Isaac Grier and Elizabeth Cooper Grier, both of whom were Presbyterian clergy. His father gave him a classical schooling, and he did well in Latin and Greek.[^4] The family moved in 1806 to Northumberland, Pennsylvania, where Isaac Grier ran three churches and a private school. Grier entered Dickinson College as a junior in 1811 and finished in 1812. He taught at the college before taking a post at his father's school.[^4] He read law with his father until his father died in 1815. He then taught at and administered the school while continuing his legal studies with Charles Hall, and he was admitted to the bar in 1817.[^5] ## Career For fifteen years Grier practised law, first in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, and later in Danville, Pennsylvania. During this time he supported his mother and paid for his ten siblings' schooling. He was a Jacksonian Democrat and backed Andrew Jackson's presidential candidacy.[^6] A new district court opened for Allegheny County, and appointments to it became the subject of political maneuvering. The source states that Grier was offered the judgeship through a series of private political arrangements, on the expectation that he would turn it down. He took the post instead and moved to Pittsburgh, where he sat for 13 years. By the source's account, he earned a strong reputation there.[^6] The American Philosophical Society elected him a member in 1848.[^7] ### Supreme Court justice The seat Grier filled became vacant when Justice [[Henry Baldwin (judge)]] died in April 1844, during the presidency of John Tyler. Tyler nominated Edward King and then John M. Read, and the [[United States Senate]] rejected both. The seat was still empty when James K. Polk took office in March 1845.[^8] The Senate also rejected Polk's first nominee, George Washington Woodward. James Buchanan declined when Polk approached him about the nomination.[^8] Four congressmen from Maryland, a slave state, urged Polk to choose Grier. They described him as one who "acknowledges the right of the master to his slave and will enforce it irrespective of the clogs from time to time attempted to be thrown around by state legislation."[^9] Polk nominated Grier on August 3, 1846, and the Senate confirmed him unanimously the next day. He took the oath of office on August 10, 1846.[^10] Baldwin had died on April 21, 1844, 841 days before Grier was sworn in. The source calls this interval the longest such vacancy.[^10] ## Personal life Grier's wife, Isabelle Rose, was the daughter of a wealthy Scottish immigrant. The couple had five daughters and one son. Grier kept an estate in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where he entertained guests and fished.[^11] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *Robert Cooper Grier* (rev. 1370048722, retrieved 2026-10-26), lead section — gives Grier's life dates, his 1846–1870 service as an Associate Justice, his membership of the Taney Court and his description with Samuel Nelson as "doughfaces". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cooper_Grier [^2]: Wikipedia, *Robert Cooper Grier* (rev. 1370048722, retrieved 2026-10-26), lead section — gives his concurrence in *Dred Scott v. Sandford*, the holdings it joined, and the account of pressure from President-elect Buchanan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cooper_Grier [^3]: Wikipedia, *Robert Cooper Grier* (rev. 1370048722, retrieved 2026-10-26), lead section — gives his opposition to secession and his 1863 majority opinion in the *Prize Cases*. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cooper_Grier [^4]: Wikipedia, *Robert Cooper Grier* (rev. 1370048722, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Early life and education" — gives his birth, parents, schooling, the 1806 move to Northumberland, and his years at Dickinson College in 1811–1812. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cooper_Grier [^5]: Wikipedia, *Robert Cooper Grier* (rev. 1370048722, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Early life and education" — gives his legal study under his father and Charles Hall, his father's death in 1815, and his admission to the bar in 1817. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cooper_Grier [^6]: Wikipedia, *Robert Cooper Grier* (rev. 1370048722, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Career" — gives his fifteen-year practice, his Jacksonian affiliation, and his 13-year Allegheny County judgeship. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cooper_Grier [^7]: Wikipedia, *Robert Cooper Grier* (rev. 1370048722, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Career" — gives his election to the American Philosophical Society in 1848. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cooper_Grier [^8]: Wikipedia, *Robert Cooper Grier* (rev. 1370048722, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Supreme Court justice" — gives Baldwin's death in April 1844, the rejection of the King, Read and Woodward nominations, and Buchanan declining the nomination. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cooper_Grier [^9]: Wikipedia, *Robert Cooper Grier* (rev. 1370048722, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Supreme Court justice" — gives the Maryland congressmen's recommendation of Grier and quotes their letter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cooper_Grier [^10]: Wikipedia, *Robert Cooper Grier* (rev. 1370048722, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Supreme Court justice" — gives the nomination on August 3, 1846, the unanimous confirmation, the swearing-in on August 10, 1846, and the 841-day vacancy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cooper_Grier [^11]: Wikipedia, *Robert Cooper Grier* (rev. 1370048722, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Personal life" — gives his marriage, his children and his Williamsport estate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cooper_Grier