Jurist, US Supreme Court Associate Justice. A member of the Republican Party, he served in this position from July 1892 until February 1903. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he attended Ohio University followed by Yale law School in New Haven, Connecticut but left before attaining a law degree. He then studied law at a law office and practiced law in Dubuque, Iowa from 1855 until 1858 and returned to Pittsburgh where he practiced law until 1892 as a prominent corporate attorney. In July 1892 he was nominated for Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court by US President Benjamin Harrison to fill the vacancy left by the death of Associate Justice Joseph P. Bradley, even though he had never judged a case before. During his tenure, he is probably best remembered for his votes on two landmark decisions, Pollack v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Co. (1895), involving the unconstitutionality of unapportioned income taxes on interest, dividends, and rents imposed by the Income Tax Act of 1894, and Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the doctrine of separate but equal (later overruled in 1954). In February 1903 he retired from the US Supreme Court and died in Pittsburgh at the age of 92. His son, George Shiras III, served in the US House of Representatives as a Republican from Pennsylvania for one term from March 1903 until March 1905.
Jurist, US Supreme Court Associate Justice. A member of the Republican Party, he served in this position from July 1892 until February 1903. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he attended Ohio University followed by Yale law School in New Haven, Connecticut but left before attaining a law degree. He then studied law at a law office and practiced law in Dubuque, Iowa from 1855 until 1858 and returned to Pittsburgh where he practiced law until 1892 as a prominent corporate attorney. In July 1892 he was nominated for Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court by US President Benjamin Harrison to fill the vacancy left by the death of Associate Justice Joseph P. Bradley, even though he had never judged a case before. During his tenure, he is probably best remembered for his votes on two landmark decisions, Pollack v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Co. (1895), involving the unconstitutionality of unapportioned income taxes on interest, dividends, and rents imposed by the Income Tax Act of 1894, and Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the doctrine of separate but equal (later overruled in 1954). In February 1903 he retired from the US Supreme Court and died in Pittsburgh at the age of 92. His son, George Shiras III, served in the US House of Representatives as a Republican from Pennsylvania for one term from March 1903 until March 1905.
Bio by: William Bjornstad
Inscription
JUSTICE SUPREME COURT
OF
THE UNITED STATES
Gravesite Details
Interment Date: August 4, 1924
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