# Rufus W. Peckham *American lawyer and jurist; Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1896–1909* Rufus Wheeler Peckham (born November 8, 1838; died October 24, 1909) was a lawyer and judge from New York. He sat as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1896 until 1909.[^1] He was a Democrat. The source records him as the latest Democratic nominee to be confirmed by a Senate with a Republican majority.[^1] His work on the Court is described as relying heavily on substantive due process to strike down regulation of business and property.[^1] Before joining the Supreme Court he held judicial office in New York. He won election as a trial judge on the New York Supreme Court in 1883 and to the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, in 1886.[^2] His father, also named Rufus Wheeler Peckham, was a lawyer, a judge and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.[^1] His elder brother, Wheeler Hazard Peckham (1833–1905), was among the lawyers who prosecuted William M. Tweed. President Grover Cleveland nominated the brother to the Supreme Court in 1894, and the nomination failed.[^1][^2] ## Biography Peckham was born in Albany, New York, the son of Rufus Wheeler Peckham and Isabella Adeline Lacey. He was nine years old when his mother died.[^2] He attended The Albany Academy and studied law on his own in his father's office. He was admitted to the Albany bar in 1859.[^2] He practiced privately for about ten years and then held the office of Albany district attorney from 1869 to 1872. He afterward went back to private practice and acted as counsel to the City of Albany.[^2] Voters elected him a trial judge on the New York Supreme Court in 1883, and in 1886 he won a seat on the New York Court of Appeals.[^2] While an associate judge of that court, he was also a trustee of Albany Law School.[^2] The Court of Appeals seat was the third office in which he followed his father. The elder Peckham had likewise been Albany district attorney and a judge of the New York Supreme Court. He served on the Court of Appeals until he died in the sinking of the Ville du Havre in 1873.[^2] Peckham took part in local Democratic politics and was one of New York's delegates to the 1876 Democratic National Convention.[^2] The source describes him as a confidant of J. Pierpont Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt and John D. Rockefeller. It also reports a belief, held by observers it does not name, that these ties inclined him toward business interests as a Supreme Court justice. The source reports that belief but does not establish it.[^2] Cleveland's 1894 nomination of Wheeler Hazard Peckham to the Supreme Court became caught in a political contest between the President and New York Senator David Hill. It was the second Cleveland nominee whom Hill succeeded in blocking.[^2] ## Family and burial Peckham is buried in Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands, New York. His wife, Harriette Maria Arnold (December 13, 1839 – July 25, 1917), was later buried there as well.[^3] Both of their sons died before their parents: Rufus W. Jr. (January 28, 1870 – September 16, 1899) and Henry Arnold (August 6, 1868 – February 16, 1907).[^3] Harriette Peckham was the paternal aunt of the heiress Dorothy Arnold, who disappeared on December 12, 1910. In 1928, United Press Associations (now UPI) referred to her disappearance as "the great search of the age".[^3] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Rufus W. Peckham*, lead section (rev. 1370770961, retrieved 2026-10-26) — gives his dates, his Supreme Court tenure (1896–1909), his status as the most recent Democratic nominee approved by a Republican-majority Senate, his use of substantive due process, his father's offices, and his brother's role in the Tweed prosecution and failed nomination. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufus_W._Peckham [^2]: Wikipedia contributors, *Rufus W. Peckham*, "Biography" section (rev. 1370770961, retrieved 2026-10-26) — gives his parentage, education, 1859 bar admission, Albany district attorney service (1869–1872), 1883 and 1886 judicial elections, Albany Law School trusteeship, his father's offices and death, the 1876 convention delegation, the reported business relationships, and the 1894 nomination of his brother. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufus_W._Peckham [^3]: Wikipedia contributors, *Rufus W. Peckham*, "Family and burial" section (rev. 1370770961, retrieved 2026-10-26) — gives his burial place, his wife's and sons' dates, and the Dorothy Arnold relation, including the 1928 United Press quotation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufus_W._Peckham