Gabriel Duvall
United States federal judge
Died when: 91 years 91 days (1095 months)Star Sign: Sagittarius
Gabriel Duvall (December 6, 1752 – March 6, 1844) was an American politician and jurist.Duvall was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1811 to 1835, during the Marshall Court.
Previously, Duvall was the Comptroller of the Treasury, a Maryland state court judge, a member of the U.S.House of Representatives from Maryland, and a Maryland state legislator.
Whether Duvall is deserving of the title of "the most insignificant" justice in the history of the U.S.Supreme Court has been the subject of much academic interest, most notably a debate between University of Chicago Law Professors David P.
Currie and (now-Judge) Frank H.Easterbrook in 1983.Currie argued that "impartial examination of Duvall's performance reveals to even the uninitiated observer that he achieved an enviable standard of insignificance against which all other justices must be measured." Easterbrook responded that Currie's analysis lacked "serious consideration of candidates so shrouded in obscurity that they escaped proper attention even in a contest of insignificance," and concluded that Duvall's colleague, Justice Thomas Todd, was even more insignificant.
The Duvall family enslaved anywhere from nine to forty people at their tobacco plantation, Marietta between 1783 and 1864.The Duvalls enslaved multiple generations of the Duckett, Butler, Jackson, and Brown families at Marietta.
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