Melville Weston Fuller
(1833-1910)

Melville Weston Fuller was born in Augusta, Maine, on Febru-
ary 11, 1833. He graduated from Bowdoin College and briefly at-
tended Harvard Law School. He was a newspaperman in Augusta
for a time, was admitted to the bar in 1855, and practiced law in
Chicago from 1856 to 1888.

Fuller was a prominent member of the Chicago bar, but was
unknown nationally. In 1888, however, he was appointed chief
justice of the United States Supreme Court by Grover Cleveland.
Other members of the Court at that time were such prominent ju-
rists as Oliver Wendell Holmes and John Marshall Harlan. Al-
though not as forceful an intellect as either of them, Fuller devel-
oped a reputation as an impartial and skilled administrator of the
Court's business. Holmes referred to him as the best presiding
judge he had ever known.

Fuller wrote two important opinions during his tenure on the
Court: one that narrowly construed the Sherman Antitrust Act of
1890 and another that declared unconstitutional the federal in-
come tax act of 1894. While serving as chief justice, he was also a
member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague for
ten years. A biography of Chief Justice Fuller, written by Willard
L. King, another member of the Literary Club, was published in
1950.

Fuller was a member of the Club from 1878 until his death on
July 4, 1910. He presented two papers and participated in two
conversations. A magnificent oil portrait of Chief Justice Fuller
may be found in the art collection of the Union League Club of Chicago.

Read before the Club: March 22, 1999