Courts

He Quit The Bench To Fight A Duel — And Killed A Sitting U.S. Senator

The duel that made him infamous is often called the last notable one in American history.

In 1859, which chief justice of California’s Supreme Court resigned his seat, challenged a sitting United States senator to a duel over a political grudge, and shot him dead?

Hint: Three decades later, that same man was himself gunned down — by a deputy U.S. marshal assigned to guard a Supreme Court justice he had threatened — in a killing that produced a landmark ruling on the reach of federal power.

See the answer on the next page.

1 2Next »