Robert Trimble
US Supreme Court justice from 1826 to 1828
title: "Robert Trimble" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1776-births", "1828-deaths", "19th-century-kentucky-state-court-judges", "american-presbyterians", "american-prosecutors", "judges-of-the-united-states-district-court-for-the-district-of-kentucky", "kentucky-democratic-republicans", "kentucky-state-court-judges", "members-of-the-kentucky-house-of-representatives", "lawyers-from-berkeley-county,-west-virginia", "united-states-attorneys-for-the-district-of-kentucky", "united-states-federal-judges-appointed-by-james-madison", "united-states-federal-judges-appointed-by-john-quincy-adams", "justices-of-the-supreme-court-of-the-united-states", "united-states-federal-judges-admitted-to-the-practice-of-law-by-reading-law", "united-states-supreme-court-justices-who-owned-slaves", "judges-of-the-kentucky-court-of-appeals", "burials-at-paris-cemetery", "19th-century-members-of-the-kentucky-general-assembly", "presbyterians-from-west-virginia"] description: "US Supreme Court justice from 1826 to 1828" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Trimble" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary US Supreme Court justice from 1826 to 1828 ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Robert Trimble |
| image | RobertTrimble.jpg |
| office | Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States |
| term_start | June 16, 1826 |
| term_end | August 25, 1828 |
| nominator | John Quincy Adams |
| predecessor | Thomas Todd |
| successor | John McLean |
| office1 | Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Kentucky |
| term_start1 | January 31, 1817 |
| term_end1 | May 9, 1826 |
| nominator1 | James Madison |
| predecessor1 | Harry Innes |
| successor1 | John Boyle |
| birth_name | Robert Trimble |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Berkeley County, Virginia |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Paris, Kentucky |
| resting_place | Paris Cemetery, Paris, Kentucky |
| spouse | |
| education | read law |
| occupation | Lawyer |
| profession | Jurist |
| :: |
| honorific-prefix = | name = Robert Trimble | honorific-suffix = | image = RobertTrimble.jpg | alt = | caption = | office = Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States | term_start = June 16, 1826 | term_end = August 25, 1828 | nominator = John Quincy Adams | predecessor = Thomas Todd | successor = John McLean | office1 = Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Kentucky | term_start1 = January 31, 1817 | term_end1 = May 9, 1826 | nominator1 = James Madison | predecessor1 = Harry Innes | successor1 = John Boyle | pronunciation = | birth_name = Robert Trimble | birth_date = | birth_place = Berkeley County, Virginia | death_date = | death_place = Paris, Kentucky | death_cause = | resting_place = Paris Cemetery, Paris, Kentucky | resting_place_coordinates = | citizenship = | nationality = | party = | otherparty = | height = | spouse = | partner = | relations = | children = | parents = | mother = | father = | relatives = | residence = | education = read law | alma_mater = | occupation = Lawyer | profession = Jurist | known_for = | salary = | net_worth = | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | website = | footnotes =
Robert Trimble (November 17, 1776 – August 25, 1828) was a lawyer and jurist who served as Justice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals, as United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Kentucky and as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1826 to his death in 1828. During his brief Supreme Court tenure he authored several majority opinions, including the decision in Ogden v. Saunders, which was the only majority opinion that Chief Justice John Marshall ever dissented from during his 34 years on the Court.
Early life and career
Trimble was born on November 17, 1776, in Berkeley County, Virginia to William Trimble (d. 1806) and Mary McMillan. He was three years old when his family emigrated to the Cumberland Plateau region of Virginia's Kentucky County, initially to Fort Boonesborough and then to a settlement in present-day Clark County, Kentucky.
He attended Transylvania University and read law under two attorneys, first George Nicholas and then (after Nicholas' death in 1799) James Brown. He was licensed to practice law by the Kentucky Court of Appeals in 1803 and began a law practice in Paris, Kentucky.
On August 18, 1803, he married Nancy P. Timberlake; together they had at least 10 children. Their daughter Rebecca married Garrett Davis, who represented Kentucky in the U.S. House (1839–1847) and then in the U.S. Senate (1861–1872). Another of Trimble's daughters was the mother of James G. Jones, the first mayor of Evansville, Indiana and the third Indiana Attorney General.
Trimble was elected to represent Bourbon County in the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1802. A staunch Jeffersonian Republican, he served only one term, as he intensely disliked the tumult of politics. He thereafter refused election to any public office, including two nominations to the U.S. Senate.
In 1807, Trimble accepted an appointment to the Kentucky Court of Appeals, but resigned in 1809 for financial and family reasons;
Federal judicial service
U.S. District Court for Kentucky
Trimble was nominated as District Judge for the U.S. District Court for Kentucky by President James Madison on January 28, 1817. Confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 31, 1817, he served for nine years, until his appointment to the Supreme Court of the United States in May 1826.
Supreme Court
Nomination and confirmation
Trimble was nominated as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court by President John Quincy Adams on April 11, 1826, to succeed Thomas Todd. Opposition to the nomination came from fellow Kentuckian, Senator John Rowan, whose states' rights views ran counter to positions taken by Trimble while serving on the circuit court that favored federal authority over state authority. The effort to stall the nomination failed, and Trimble was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 9, 1826, by a 27–5 vote.
Tenure
Trimble served on the Court from June 16, 1826, until August 25, 1828. During his Supreme Court tenure, Trimble generally agreed with the opinions of Chief Justice John Marshall. In a notable departure, he wrote the majority opinion in the case of Ogden v. Saunders; Marshall wrote the dissenting opinion in the case.
Death and legacy
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Justice_Robert_Trimble_gravesite_7x5.jpg" caption="url-status=live}}"] ::
Following the 1828 Supreme Court term, Trimble returned home. That summer, he became ill with a bilious fever and died on August 25, He was interred in Paris Cemetery. Following Trimble's death, Chief Justice Marshall wrote to Senator Henry Clay saying,
Justice Joseph Story, who served with Trimble, wrote,
Trimble County, Kentucky, established in 1837, is named for Justice Trimble. Also, the Liberty ship , built in Brunswick, Georgia during World War II, was named in his honor.
Notes
References
References
- Goff, John S.. (January 1960). "Mr. Justice Trimble of the United States Supreme Court". Register of the Kentucky Historical Society.
- (January 18, 2019). "Where in the World: One of America's 'forgotten men of history'". Winchester Sun.
- "Robert Trimble (1776-1828)". United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
- (2014-09-14). "Women at Fort Boonesborough, 1775–1784". Fort Boonesborough Foundation.
- (1896). "Biographical Cyclopedia of the Commonwealth of Kentucky". J.M. Gresham Company.
- "Robert Trimble, 1826-1828". Supreme Court Historical Society.
- "Eades Tavern". Hopewell Museum.
- (2013). "The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies, 1789–2012". CQ Press.
- "Garrett Davis". Hopewell Museum.
- (1922). "A History of Indiana from its exploration to 1922". Dayton Historical Publishing Company.
- (August 25, 2015). "Today in Masonic History: Robert Trimble passes away in 1828".
- Vanburkleo, Sandra F.. (1993). "Trimble, Robert". University Press of Kentucky.
- (1820). "Robert Trimble".
- "U.S. District Court for the District of Kentucky: Judges". Federal Judicial Center.
- "Supreme Court Nominations (1789-Present)". United States Senate.
- (February 1960). "A note on the Appointment of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States". American Bar Association Journal.
- McMillion, Barry J.. (January 28, 2022). "Supreme Court Nominations, 1789 to 2020: Actions by the Senate, the Judiciary Committee, and the President". Congressional Research Service.
- "Justices 1789 to Present". Supreme Court of the United States.
- Christensen, George A.. "Here Lies the Supreme Court: Gravesites of the Justices". Supreme Court Historical Society.
- (2000). "Trimble County". The Kentucky Encyclopedia.
- (1903). "The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, Volume 1". Kentucky State Historical Society.
- Williams, Greg H.. (July 25, 2014). "The Liberty Ships of World War II: A Record of the 2,710 Vessels and Their Builders, Operators and Namesakes, with a History of the Jeremiah O'Brien". McFarland.
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