Smith Thompson

Thompson was a prominent New York jurist and administrator whose career connected state judicial experience with the national government. His service as Secretary of the Navy gave him substantial experience with federal executive power before he joined the Supreme Court. He remained on the Court for twenty years and participated in many of the Marshall and Taney Courts' important cases.

Thompson was born on January 17, 1768, in Amenia, New York. He attended Princeton, graduating in 1788, and studied law before establishing a practice in Poughkeepsie. He quickly became involved in New York public affairs.

Thompson served in the New York legislature before becoming a judge of the New York Supreme Court. He eventually became Chief Justice of that court. President James Monroe appointed him Secretary of the Navy in 1818, where he administered the department before being nominated to the Supreme Court in 1823.

Thompson joined the Court in 1823, replacing Justice Henry Brockholst Livingston. He participated in important cases including Gibbons v. Ogden, Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, Worcester v. Georgia, Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge, and Prigg v. Pennsylvania. He sometimes disagreed with Marshall's nationalist approach and wrote separate opinions, making him an important example of the increasing diversity of constitutional interpretation during the later Marshall Court.

Thompson remained on the Court until his death in 1843. His health declined during his later years, but he continued to participate in cases. He died in Poughkeepsie, New York, on December 18, 1843.

Thompson is remembered primarily as a significant state and federal jurist during the transition from the Marshall to Taney Courts. His opinions demonstrate that Marshall's nationalism never represented complete unanimity among the justices. His career also provides an important connection between New York constitutional law and the development of federal jurisprudence.

Constitutional approach: Original/structural constitutionalist, with a stronger states-rights tendency than Marshall. Thompson was not a progressive or living constitutionalist. His disagreements with Marshall generally concerned the original division of authority between the federal and state governments.

Key decisions

Separate opinions: Thompson occasionally dissented or wrote separately, particularly when he believed the Court had extended federal power beyond the Constitution's original allocation.