Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/David J. Brewer/archive1

David J. Brewer

 * Nominator(s): Extraordinary Writ (talk) 07:38, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

David J. Brewer spent twenty years on the U.S. Supreme Court. Theodore Roosevelt thought he had "a sweetbread for a brain" and was a "menace to the welfare of the Nation", and he hasn't fared too much better in the annals of history, despite considerable scholarly efforts in recent years to rehabilitate his reputation. But whatever one might think of him, he undeniably served at a formative moment in modern American history, and this article provides a window into how a conservative Supreme Court responded to that moment.

I wrote the bulk of this article back in 2022, when it passed a GA review by. After a few recent touch-ups, I think it's now ready for FAC. Most of the sources should be easily available (usually through the Internet Archive or the Wikipedia Library), and I'm happy to provide help accessing any of the others. Looking forward to your comments! Extraordinary Writ (talk) 07:38, 20 March 2024 (UTC)


 * I’ll definitely leave some comments. It would simply be rude not to do so 😅. It’s EW after all. As usual this just looks *italian chefs kiss* perfect. Your articles are a model I try to use when writing. Will review and come back, though I don’t have much experience at FA and others may be better at polishing diamonds than I am. — MaxnaCarta  ( 💬 • 📝 ) 08:18, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

Image review


 * Some images are missing alt text


 * See this guidance regarding captions. Nikkimaria (talk) 04:46, 21 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Both done, . I could only find one that was missing alt text, so if you're seeing others, please let me know which ones. Extraordinary Writ (talk) 06:26, 21 March 2024 (UTC)

Coordinator note
This has been open for more than three weeks and has yet to pick up a support. Unless it attracts considerable movement towards a consensus to promote over the next three or four days I am afraid that it is liable to be archived. Gog the Mild (talk) 18:41, 12 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Sorry, but this is not showing signs of moving towards a consensus to promote, and so I am archiving it. The usual two-week hiatus will apply. Gog the Mild (talk) 16:20, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

Comments by Wehwalt

 * "In Board of Education v. Tinnon,[b] " I would mention much further up that Brewer dissented. As it is, we have to wait several sentences.
 * Done.
 * Is it worth consolidating in one place the discussion of Mugler and that Mugler was affirmed by the US Supreme Court? The way you phrase it, it might escape the reader they are the same case.
 * Yeah, it probably does make more sense that way (despite the chronology). Done.
 * It might be made clearer that as a circuit justice of the Eighth Circuit, Brewer would have heard both trial and appellate cases. I also wonder at your capitalization.
 * Sentence added. Re capitalization, I've reworded to make clear I'm using "circuit court" is a description rather than a title. (Pre-1912 circuit courts are strange: Brewer was a circuit judge for the 8th Circuit, but the court is called the "United States Circuit Court for the District of [state]" rather than the Circuit Court for the Eighth Circuit.)
 * In an era when regional representation on the Supreme Court was so important, as was Ohio in presidential politics, how on earth did Ohio lose Matthews' seat to Kansas? The Eighth Circuit was already represented through Miller, and Waite, an Ohioan, had just been replaced by Fuller. The Sixth Circuit had nobody.
 * Harlan was from the Sixth Circuit (as were two of Harrison's next three appointments), and geography wasn't quite as important once circuit-riding started to decline (there was no one from the Fourth Circuit for almost 80 years), but yeah, definitely surprising. Foraker used a lot of political capital on McDougall, and allegedly Harrison actually offered the nomination to him, but when McDougall refused there wasn't much more the Ohioans could do. (It couldn't have helped that their next choice, Taft, was pretty clearly too inexperienced and that Foraker's "recommendation of Taft, whom he disliked personally, was relatively cool".). The sources don't have much else to say, although from what I can tell from the newspapers, it was realized from the beginning that a non-Ohio candidate was likely. It seems Harrison was more concerned with picking someone from "the Midwest" broadly construed than from any particular state or circuit. Extraordinary Writ (talk) 00:03, 14 April 2024 (UTC)
 * "Vice-President Levi P. Morton " Why the dash?
 * Fixed.
 * More soon.--Wehwalt (talk) 18:56, 13 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Many thanks—looking forward to the rest of your comments! Extraordinary Writ (talk) 00:03, 14 April 2024 (UTC)
 * "most well-known opinions" Why not "best-known opinions"?
 * Fixed.
 * Consider a quote box with a longer extract from the "Christian nation" opinion opposite the paragraph in which you discuss it.
 * The famous part comes at the end of a lengthy paragraph where Brewer lists a bunch of different religious aspects of American life. If I quote the whole 220-word paragraph it'd be too long, and if I quote just the decisive sentences I'd have to start at "These, and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations...", which leaves the reader wondering what "these" are. Not sure there's an easy way to make a quote box work.
 * Where did Brewer live as a justice? Did he live in DC or did he maintain a home in Kansas where he went when court was not in session?
 * He seems to have spent most of his time in DC (illustrated tour of Fuller Court houses available here), with occasional vacations to this cottage in Vermont, his first wife's home state. ("Justice and Mrs. Brewer always go north, but usually far from the haunts of society, and have a restful time of it.") Brodhead's biography says he "regularly visited" Kansas, but I can't find any evidence he owned property there (his will just lists a DC house and the Vermont cottage). I've added the cottage to the article.
 * That's it.--Wehwalt (talk) 15:47, 14 April 2024 (UTC)
 * All responded to. Extraordinary Writ (talk) 00:49, 15 April 2024 (UTC)
 * I agree with all of them. Looks good. Support. Wehwalt (talk) 04:57, 15 April 2024 (UTC)

Gog the Mild (talk) 16:22, 21 April 2024 (UTC)