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4 unusual facts about William Cushing


Chisholm v. Georgia

In a 4 to 1 decision, the Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, with Chief Justice John Jay and Associate Justices John Blair, James Wilson, and William Cushing constituting the majority; only Justice Iredell dissented.

United States presidential inauguration

When George Washington was inaugurated, the oath was administered by Robert Livingston, Chancellor of New York State, in 1789, and by William Cushing, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, in 1793.

William Cushing

After briefly practicing law in Scituate, he moved to Pownalborough (present-day Dresden, Maine, then part of Massachusetts), and became the first practicing attorney in the province's eastern district (as Maine was then known).

His two most important decisions were probably Chisholm v. Georgia and Ware v. Hylton, which regarded intrastate suits and the supremacy of treaties.


Alexander Wolcott

Nominated by President James Madison to the late William Cushing's seat in February 1811, he was unpopular because, while a United States customs inspector, he had robustly enforced the Embargo and Non-Intercourse Acts.

Increase Sumner

In 1752 Sumner enrolled in the grammar school in Roxbury, now Roxbury Latin School, where the headmaster was William Cushing, future justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.


see also