Robert Trimble


Robert Trimble was a lawyer and jurist who served as Justice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals, as United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Kentucky and as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1826 to his death in 1828. During his brief Supreme Court tenure he authored several majority opinions, including the decision in Ogden v. Saunders, which was the only majority opinion that Chief Justice John Marshall ever dissented from during his 34 years on the Court.

Early life and career

Trimble was born on November 17, 1776, in Berkeley County Virginia to William Trimble and Mary McMillan. He was three years old when his family emigrated to the Cumberland Plateau region of Virginia's Kentucky County, initially to Fort Boonesborough and then to a settlement in present-day Clark County, Kentucky.
He attended Transylvania University and read law under two attorneys, first George Nicholas and then James Brown. He was licensed to practice law by the Kentucky Court of Appeals in 1803 and began a law practice in Paris, Kentucky. He established his office at Eades Tavern, which also became his home.
On August 18, 1803 he married to Nancy P. Timberlake; together they had at least 10 children. Their daughter Rebecca married Garrett Davis, who represented Kentucky in the U.S. House and then in the U.S. Senate.
Trimble was elected to represent Bourbon County in the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1802. A staunch Jeffersonian Republican, he served only one term, as he intensely disliked the tumult of politics. He thereafter refused election to any public office, including two nominations to the U.S. Senate.
In 1807, Trimble accepted an appointment to the Kentucky Court of Appeals, but resigned in 1809 for financial and family reasons; he later declined an appointment to become that Court's chief justice in 1810. From 1813 to 1817 he served as United States Attorney for the District of Kentucky. During this time, Trimble proved himself a tireless legal researcher and an energetic prosecutor.

Federal judicial service

Trimble was nominated as District Judge for the U.S. District Court for Kentucky by President James Madison on January 28, 1817. Confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 31, 1817, he served for nine years, until his appointment to the Supreme Court of the United States in May 1826.
He was nominated as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court by President John Quincy Adams on April 11, 1826, following the death of Justice Thomas Todd two months earlier. He was confirmed by the Senate on May 9, 1826, and served until his death two years later, in August 1828.

Supreme Court jurisprudence

As a member of the court, Trimble generally agreed with the opinions of Chief Justice John Marshall. In a notable departure, he wrote the majority opinion in the case of Ogden v. Saunders; Marshall wrote the dissenting opinion in the case.

Death and legacy

Following the 1828 Supreme Court term, Trimble returned home. That summer, he became ill with a bilious fever and died on August 25 at the age of 52. He was one of four early Supreme Court justices to die in office before reaching the age of 60. He was interred in Paris Cemetery.
Following Trimble's death, Chief Justice Marshall wrote to Senator Henry Clay saying,
Justice Joseph Story, who served with Trimble, wrote,
In December 1828, shortly after losing the 1828 presidential election to Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams nominated John J. Crittenden to replace Trimble on the Court. Two months later, the Senate voted to postpone taking action on the nomination, thus it lapsed at the end of the session of Congress. President Jackson nominated John McLean to Trimble's vacant seat two days after taking office; McLean was confirmed on March 7, 1829.
Trimble County, Kentucky, established in 1837, is named for Justice Trimble. Also, the Liberty ship, built in Brunswick, Georgia during World War II, was named in his honor.

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