Criminal law in the Waite Court

During the tenure of Morrison Waite as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (March 4, 1874 through March 23, 1888), the Supreme Court heard an unprecedented volume and frequency of criminal cases. In just fourteen years, the Court heard 106 criminal cases, almost as many cases as the Supreme Court had heard in the period from its creation to the appointment of Waite as Chief Justice. Notable cases include United States v. Cruikshank (1875), United States v. Reese (1875), Reynolds v. United States (1878), Wilkerson v. Utah (1879), the Trade-Mark Cases (1879), Strauder v. West Virginia (1880), Pace v. Alabama (1883), United States v. Harris (1883), Ex parte Crow Dog (1883), Hurtado v. California (1884), Clawson v. United States (1885), Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886), United States v. Kagama (1886), Ker v. Illinois (1886), and Mugler v. Kansas (1887).

The Waite Court decided many issues of first impression, both new crimes and new doctrines of criminal procedure and criminal investigations. For example, the Waite Court was the first to hear cases regarding the federal anti-polygamy statutes, the Reconstruction-era civil rights crimes, extortion under color of office, fraud on the United States, and mail fraud. Further, the Waite Court was the first to interpret the Confrontation Clause and the Grand Jury Clause, the criminal procedure implications of the Equal Protection Clause, and the application of the Fourth Amendment to criminal proceedings.

The Waite Court decided several issues involving the interaction between the federal courts and the courts of the various states, such as civil rights and federal officer removal, criminal jurisdiction in Indian country, and federal habeas review of state criminal convictions.