Samuel Nelson (November 10, 1792 – December 13, 1873) was an American attorney and appointed as judge of New York State courts. He was appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1872. He concurred on the 1857 Dred Scott decision, although for reasons different from Chief Justice Taney's.
Samuel Nelson
Supreme Court of the United States
Born 1792 in Hebron, NY
Died 1873 in Cooperstown, NY
FJC ID: 1745
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 14/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 50/year
Supreme Court of the United States · 1845–1872
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- White
Prior employment
- Private practice, Cortland, New York1817–present
- Supreme Court of Judicature of New YorkAssociate justice · 1831–1845
- ↳chief justice · 1837–1845
- Candidate for U.S. Senate from New York1845
Judge · 1823–1831- Cortland, New YorkPostmaster · 1820–1823
Appointments
Education
- Read law1817
- Middlebury College1813