Trimble, Robert

▪ United States jurist

born 1777, Augusta county, Va., U.S.

died Aug. 25, 1828, Paris, Ky.

      associate justice of the United States Supreme Court (1826–28).

      Trimble grew up on the Kentucky frontier and studied law privately, being admitted to the bar in 1803. In 1807 he was appointed a judge of the Court of Appeals, but after two years he returned to private practice, declining several subsequent offers of judicial appointment. In 1813 he became a district prosecutor and in 1817 was appointed federal district court judge for Kentucky by President James Madison, and he served in that post until his appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1826. To the satisfaction of Justices John Marshall and Joseph Story, he was confirmed, despite opposition from his own congressional delegation because of his nationalist views. Trimble almost always sided with Marshall on constitutional issues, upholding the dominance of federal over state laws where the two conflicted. He differed with Marshall, however, in Ogden v. Saunders, in which he gave his ablest opinion. Speaking for the majority, Trimble declared that a state insolvency law does not impair the obligations of future contracts between citizens of that state.

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