# Samuel Freeman Miller *Associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1862–1890)* Samuel Freeman Miller (April 5, 1816 – October 13, 1890) was a Kentucky-born physician and lawyer. He sat as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1862 until he died in office in 1890.[^1] His opinions include *United States v. Kagama* and *The Slaughterhouse Cases*, which the cited Wikipedia article calls landmark rulings.[^1] [[Abraham Lincoln]] appointed Miller to the Court. In 1873 Miller wrote the Court's opinion in the *Slaughterhouse Cases*, which read the Fourteenth Amendment narrowly and, by the cited account, limited the amendment's effectiveness. In *Ex parte Yarbrough* (1884) he held that federal power extended to protecting Black voters from private violence.[^1] ## Early life, education, and medical career Miller was born in Richmond, Kentucky, to Frederick Miller, a yeoman farmer, and his wife, Patsy. Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, awarded him a medical degree in 1838. He practiced medicine in Barbourville, Kentucky, for about ten years. During that time he studied law on his own, and he was admitted to the bar in 1847. Slavery was widespread in Kentucky. Miller favored abolishing it and backed the Whig Party in the state.[^1] ## Career Miller relocated to Keokuk, Iowa, in 1850, a state more receptive to his antislavery views. On arrival he freed the few slaves who had come with his family from Kentucky. He took part in Iowa politics and backed Lincoln in the 1860 presidential election.[^1] Lincoln nominated him to the Supreme Court on July 16, 1862. The Senate confirmed the nomination that day, and Miller took the oath of office on July 21.[^1] During the Civil War, Miller's opinions generally sided with Lincoln's positions. He sustained the wartime suspension of habeas corpus and trials by military commission.[^1] After the war he wrote the opinion in the 1873 *Slaughterhouse Cases*, whose narrow construction of the Fourteenth Amendment limited the amendment's reach. His majority opinion in *Bradwell v. Illinois* held that the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment did not protect a right to practice law.[^1] Miller later joined the majorities in *United States v. Cruikshank* and the *Civil Rights Cases*. Those decisions held that the Fourteenth Amendment did not authorize the federal government to reach discrimination against Black Americans by private parties, as distinct from discrimination by states.[^1] Writing for the Court in *Ex parte Yarbrough*, 110 U.S. 651 (1884), he took a different course. There he held that the federal government had broad power to protect Black voters from violence by the Ku Klux Klan and other private groups. He also favored broad federal authority under the Commerce Clause to displace state regulation, as in *Wabash v. Illinois*.[^1] Miller wrote 616 opinions over 28 years on the Court. Justice Field, whose 34-year tenure largely overlapped Miller's, wrote 544. Chief Justice Marshall wrote 508 over 33 years.[^1] ## Personal life Miller was a religious liberal and a Unitarian, and he presided over the Unitarians' National Conference. He died in Washington, D.C., in 1890 while still serving on the Court.[^1] His funeral took place at Keokuk's First Unitarian Church, a congregation he had helped found. He was buried in Oakland Cemetery in Keokuk, Iowa.[^1] In 1842 Miller married Lucy Love Ballinger (1827–1854), and they had three daughters. In 1856 he married Eliza Winter Reeves (1827–1900), and they had a son and a daughter.[^1] ## List of most notable opinions Opinions by Miller listed among his most notable:[^1] - *Watson v. Jones*, 80 U.S. 679 (1871) - *The Slaughter-House Cases*, 83 U.S. 36 (1873) - *Murdock v. Memphis*, 87 U.S. (20 Wall.) 590 (1874) - *United States v. Kagama*, 118 U.S. 375 (1886) - *In re Neagle*, 135 U.S. 1 (1890) - *In re Burrus*, 136 U.S. 586 (1890) ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *Samuel Freeman Miller* (revision 1365402707, retrieved 2026-10-26) — birth and death dates, education, medical and legal career, Iowa move, nomination, confirmation and swearing-in dates, opinions, opinion counts, personal life, and the list of notable opinions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Freeman_Miller