Tag: Clifford (Nathan)

Wikipedia says: Nathan Clifford (August 18, 1803 – July 25, 1881) was an American statesman, diplomat and jurist.

He represented served as Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives and Attorney General of Maine before representing the state in the United States House of Representatives. He then served in the administration of President James K. Polk as Attorney General and Ambassador to Mexico. In the latter office, he signed the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo. His career culminated in a lengthy service as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Clifford is one of only a handful of people who have served in all three branches of the U.S. federal government.

…During the Civil War, Clifford remained loyal to the Union. He distrusted federal authority, but generally upheld federal power as far as was necessary to prosecute the war. Some exceptions were the Prize Cases, where he joined the dissent in arguing that the blockade of the Confederacy was illegal without a declaration of war, and Ex parte Milligan, where he joined the majority to limit the use of military tribunals to prosecute citizens when civilian courts were available.