David Josiah Brewer

David Josiah Brewer (January 20, 1837-March 28, 1910), was an American jurist.

Brewer was born to a family of Congregational missionaries in Turkey. His parents returned to the United States in 1838 and settled in Connecticut. Brewer attended college at Wesleyan University and Yale University, graduating from the latter in 1856. Brewer read law for one year, then enrolled at Albany Law School in Albany, New York, graduating in 1858.

Upon graduating from law school, Brewer moved to Kansas and established a law practice. He was named Commissioner of the Federal Circuit Court in Leavenworth in 1861. He held two other judgeships before being elected to the Kansas Supreme Court in 1870, where he served for 14 years. In 1884 he was named to the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

After 28 years on the bench, Brewer was nominated by Benjamin Harrison to the United States Supreme Court, in 1889, and confirmed in 1890 by the Senate. He served on the court for 20 years, until his death in 1910.

Brewer was an active member of the Supreme Court, writing often in both concurring and dissenting opinions. He was a major contributor to the doctrine of substantive due process, the arguing that certain activities are entirely outside government control. In his time he frequently sided with Court majorities striking down property rights restrictions. Brewer also authored the unanimous opinion of the Court in Muller v. Oregon (1908), in support of a law restricting working hours for women.

References

• Data drawn in part from the Supreme Court Historical Society and Oyez.