Morrison Remick Waite

Waite, Morrison Remick (1816–88), seventh chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1874–88). Appointed by Pres. Ulysses S. Grant, Waite became the principal interpreter of post-Civil War amendments to the Constitution, including that of the due process clause of the 14th Amendment, limiting state power. In the Granger Cases (1877), which involved state legislation intending to establish maximum rates charged by the operators of grain elevators and railways, he maintained that only businesses that were “affected with a public interest” could be subject to state regulation. In several cases concerning newly freed slaves, Waite held that the privileges and immunities due U.S. citizens under the 14th and 15th amendments had not provided Congress the power to safeguard civil rights, but that suffrage for freed slaves must come from the states. Waite was one of the founders of the Republican Party.

See also: Supreme Court of the United States.