Make 'em bobble!

The Annotated Bobblehead Justice David J. Brewer

"It is a familiar rule that a thing may be within the letter of the statute and yet not within the statute, because not within its spirit nor within the intention of its makers." Church of the Holy Trinity v. U.S., 143 U.S. 457 (1892).

"[T]he headnote is not the work of the court, nor does it state its decision .... It is simply the work of the reporter, gives his understanding of the decision, and is prepared for the convenience of the profession in the examination of the reports." U.S. v. Detroit Lumber, 200 U.S. 321 (1906).

"[T]he general right to contract ... is part of the liberty of the individual ...; yet it is equally well settled that this liberty is not absolute and ... a state may ... restrict in many respects the individual's power of contract." Muller v. Oregon, 208 U.S. 412 (1908).

In re Debs, 158 U.S. 564 (1895).

"As Congress cannot make compacts between the states, as it cannot, in respect to certain matters, by legislation compel their separate action, disputes between them must be settled either by force or else by appeal to tribunals empowered to determine the right and wrong thereof. Force, under our system of government, is eliminated. The clear language of the Constitution vests in this court the power to settle those disputes." Kansas v. Colorado, 206 U.S. 46 (1907).

David J. Brewer, 1890-1910

David Brewer studied law under his uncle David Field, a distinguished lawyer who wrote The Field Code, reforming procedure in U.S. federal courts. Brewer eventually opened a law office in Kansas in 1859. He served as a Kansas Supreme Court Justice and a judge for the Eighth Judicial Circuit, before becoming an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Some of Brewer's decisions on the Kansas Supreme Court indicated an interest in improving the legal status of women. One ruling gave women the right to serve as county superintendents of public instruction, despite the fact that women could not vote. In another, he defined a woman's interest in the family homestead, and clarified a woman's right to money she had prior to marriage and money she earned while married. Brewer's bobblehead position at a washtub represents his opinion in Muller v. Oregon,, which upheld an Oregon law that limited how many hours women could work.

Due to the death of his daughter, Brewer did not have any role in the consideration or decision of Plessy v. Ferguson, which established the "separate but equal" doctrine.