# Robert Trimble *United States Supreme Court justice and federal judge (1776–1828)* Robert Trimble (November 17, 1776 – August 25, 1828) was a lawyer and judge. He sat on the Kentucky Court of Appeals and served as a federal district judge for the District of Kentucky. From 1826 until he died in 1828 he was an Associate Justice of the [[Supreme Court of the United States]].[^1] He wrote several majority opinions in his short time on the Supreme Court. One was *Ogden v. Saunders*. According to the cached account, it was the only majority opinion from which Chief Justice [[John Marshall]] dissented in his 34 years on the Court.[^1] ## Early life and career Trimble was born in Berkeley County, Virginia, on November 17, 1776. His parents were William Trimble, who died in 1806, and Mary McMillan. At age three he moved with his family to the Cumberland Plateau area of Virginia's Kentucky County. They lived first at Fort Boonesborough and later in a settlement in what is now Clark County, Kentucky.[^1] Trimble studied at Transylvania University. He then read law with George Nicholas, and after Nicholas died in 1799 he continued with James Brown. In 1803 the Kentucky Court of Appeals licensed him to practice. He opened a practice in Paris, Kentucky, with his office at Eades Tavern, where he also lived.[^1] On August 18, 1803, Trimble married Nancy P. Timberlake. The couple had at least ten children. Their daughter Rebecca married Garrett Davis, who represented Kentucky in the U.S. House from 1839 to 1847 and in the U.S. Senate from 1861 to 1872. Another daughter was the mother of James G. Jones, the first mayor of Evansville, Indiana, and the third Indiana Attorney General.[^1] In 1802 Bourbon County voters elected Trimble to the Kentucky House of Representatives. He was a Jeffersonian Republican. He served one term and afterward refused election to any public office, including two nominations to the U.S. Senate.[^1] Trimble took a seat on the Kentucky Court of Appeals in 1807. He resigned in 1809 for financial and family reasons, and in 1810 he declined appointment as that court's chief justice. He was United States Attorney for the District of Kentucky from 1813 until 1817. The cached account also records that he owned twenty-three slaves, but the date of that count is cut off in the pack.[^1] ## Federal judicial service ### U.S. District Court for Kentucky On January 28, 1817, President James Madison nominated Trimble to be district judge for the U.S. District Court for Kentucky. The Senate confirmed the nomination on January 31, 1817. Trimble held the post for nine years and left it on his appointment to the Supreme Court in May 1826.[^1] ### Supreme Court #### Nomination and confirmation President John Quincy Adams nominated Trimble as an associate justice on April 11, 1826, to fill the seat of [[Thomas Todd]].[^1] A fellow Kentuckian, Senator John Rowan, opposed the nomination. Rowan held states' rights views, and on the circuit court Trimble had taken positions favoring federal authority over state authority. Rowan's attempt to delay the nomination did not succeed. On May 9, 1826, the Senate confirmed Trimble by a vote of 27 to 5.[^1] #### Tenure Trimble's service on the Court ran from June 16, 1826, to his death on August 25, 1828. According to the cached account, he generally agreed with Chief Justice Marshall's opinions.[^1] ## Death and legacy Trimble went home after the Court's 1828 term. He contracted a bilious fever that summer and died on August 25, at age 52. He was buried in Paris Cemetery.[^1] After Trimble's death, Chief Justice Marshall wrote to Senator Henry Clay: "I need not say how deeply I regret the loss of Judge Trimble."[^1] [[Joseph Story]], a justice who served alongside Trimble, wrote: "No one was superior to Trimble in talents, in learning, in acuteness, in sagacity."[^1] Trimble County, Kentucky, created in 1837, bears his name. So did the Liberty ship SS *Robert Trimble*, built in Brunswick, Georgia, during World War II.[^1] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Robert Trimble* (revision 1355816308, retrieved 2026-10-26) — Trimble's birth, family, education, Kentucky offices, federal nominations and confirmations (including the 27–5 Senate vote of May 9, 1826), Court tenure, death, and namesakes. CC BY-SA 4.0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Trimble