John Rutledge

John Rutledge
Portrait by Robert Hinckley after John Trumbull, c. 1888.
2nd Chief Justice of the United States
In office August 12, 1795[1] – December 28, 1795
Nominated by	George Washington
Preceded by	John Jay
Succeeded by	Oliver Ellsworth
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
In office February 15, 1790[1] – March 5, 1791
Nominated by	George Washington
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Thomas Johnson
Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court
In office 1791 – 1795
31st Governor of South Carolina[note 1]
In office January 9, 1779 – January 16, 1782
Vice President	Henry Laurens James Parsons
Lieutenant	Thomas Bee Christopher Gadsden
Preceded by	Rawlins Lowndes
Succeeded by	John Mathews
In office July 4, 1776 – March 7, 1778 as President of South Carolina
Preceded by	Henry Laurens (as President of the Committee on Safety)
Succeeded by	Rawlins Lowndes
Delegate from South Carolina to the Continental Congress
In office September 5, 1774 – October 26, 1776
Delegate from South Carolina to the Stamp Act Congress
In office October 7, 1765 – October 25, 1765
Member of the South Carolina Commons House of Assembly
In office 1761–1775
Attorney General of South Carolina
In office 1764–1764[2]
Monarch	George III
Preceded by	James Moultrie
Succeeded by	Egerton Leigh
Personal details
Born	(1739-09-17)September 17, 1739 Charleston, South Carolina, British America
Died	June 21, 1800(1800-06-21) (aged 60) Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
Resting place	St. Michael's Churchyard
Political party	Federalist
Spouse	Elizabeth Grimké ​ ​ (m. 1763; died 1792)​
Children	10
Relatives	Edward Rutledge (brother)
Education	Middle Temple
Signature

John Rutledge (September 17, 1739 – June 21, 1800) was an American Founding Father, politician, and jurist who served as one of the original associate justices of the Supreme Court and the second chief justice of the United States. Additionally, he served as the first president of South Carolina and later as its first governor after the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Rutledge established a legal career after studying at Middle Temple in the City of London. He was the elder brother of Edward Rutledge, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence. Rutledge served as a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress, which protested taxes imposed on the Thirteen Colonies by the Parliament of Great Britain. He also served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, where he signed the Continental Association, before being elected as governor of South Carolina. He served as governor during much of the American Revolutionary War.

After briefly returning to Congress, Rutledge was appointed to the South Carolina Court of Chancery. He was a delegate to the 1787 Philadelphia Convention, which wrote the United States Constitution. During the convention, he served as chairman of the Committee of Detail, which produced the first full draft of the Constitution. The following year he also participated in the South Carolina convention to ratify the Constitution.

In 1789, President George Washington appointed Rutledge as one of the inaugural associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. Rutledge left the Supreme Court in 1791 to become chief justice of the South Carolina Court of Common Pleas and Sessions. He returned to the Supreme Court, this time as chief justice, following the resignation of John Jay in June 1795. As the vacancy came during a long Senate recess, Washington named Rutledge as the new chief justice by a recess appointment. When the Senate reconvened in December 1795, it rejected Rutledge's nomination by a 10–14 vote. Rutledge resigned his commission shortly thereafter and withdrew from public life until his death in 1800. He holds the record for the shortest tenure of any chief justice. His was the first Supreme Court nomination to be rejected by the Senate, and he remains the only "recess appointed" justice not to be subsequently confirmed by the Senate.

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