and one hundred and twenty-nine members of the House, — thinned out by secession, — and five-sixths of the Senators, joined in recommending him -to President Lincoln. At nine o'clock on the evening of July 16, and the day after the passage of the re organization law, Mr. Miller's name was pro posed to the Senate. The nomination was instantly confirmed unanimously, without reference to a committee, — a compliment rarely paid to any one who has not for merly been a member of the Senate. Justice Miller, by common consent, has been regarded as the strongest man on the Supreme bench ever since he took his seat thereon. To give his judicial history would amount to giving a history of the Supreme Court since its reorganization. He first gained national reputation in decisions made in suits brought from the West to enforce the payment of bonds given by municipal cor porations in aid of the construction of rail roads. He led the minority of the court at that time, which denied the legality of these bonds. His view, however, has since pre vailed in all of the leading courts of the country. In this he declared himself against the railroads' encroachments, and has been a steady opponent ever since of corporation influences. One of the most important and far-reaching of his decisions was his opinion in the case of Crandall v. Nevada. In this decision he held that no State could levy a tax upon passengers, or upon public carriers for conveying passengers through such State on the way to another. Maryland, Dela ware, and New Jersey had, for a number of years, derived a large revenue from this source. Another noted decision of his was in the case of Lot v. Hinton (8 Wallace). In this he held that the Constitution forbids each State from imposing taxes discrimina ting against the products of sister States in favor of its own. He also declared himself in favor of the right of Congress to assume the control and regulation of all railroad traffic when it exceeds the bounds of a single State. This decision was in the case of the
Clinton bridge, reported in Woolworth's re ports of Miller's decisions. His decision was the first declaration of the authority of Congress over this subject. He, with Swain and David Davis, were the original dis senters from the first decision against the validity of the Legal Tender Act. Another noted decision of Miller's was in the case of Watson v. Jones, in which he decided that in all questions of ecclesiastical doctrine, discipline and government, the decision of the highest tribunal of each denomination as to its own rules upon those subjects will, in the civil courts, be accepted as the true exposition of the principles of that organi zation, without further inquiry as to their soundness. A notable decision in Justice Miller's career was in the slaughter-house cases. The opinion was delivered in the September term in 1872. It required an exposition of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments of the Constitution. These amendments were before the court for the first time. The cases had been twice argued in the court, and the de cision had been withheld for a year. In this decision Mr. Miller held that while these amendments secured liberty, suffrage, and equality of civil and political rights to the African race, and placed the protection of these rights and others belonging to cit izens of the United States under the control of Congress, the right of the States in regard to the control of domestic and internal legis lation remained unimpaired otherwise than as above expressed (16 Wallace, 36). It was the line of argument in this decision which led to the declaration of the uncon stitutionality of the Civil Rights Bill. One of the most important chapters in Judge Miller's life was his connection with the Electoral Commission in 1877. Personally, Justice Miller was one of the most popular men in Washington. His social qualifications, his lovable disposition, and kindly manner endeared him to all. His death is a national loss, and his place upon the bench will be exceedingly difficult to fill.
