Luther Martin, among Md.’s finest lawyers

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Luther Martin (1748-1826) was one of the most distinguished lawyers in Maryland history and among the most distinguished lawyers in U.S. history. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, in his book “Grand Inquests: The Historic Impeachments of Justice Samuel Chase and President Andrew Johnson,” called Martin “one of the great lawyers in American history, and also one of the great iconoclasts of the American Legal Profession.”

In his novel “Burr,” Gore Vidal describes Martin as “the redoubtable Tory, the drunk, the brilliant, the incomparable Luther Martin (easily the best trial lawyer of our time).” Vidal notes, “He became Maryland’s most vivid character, alternatively endearing and infuriating,” and adds that Martin walked about with abstracted air, lost in thought when he was not lost in spirits. His dress was slovenly. It has been said that on one occasion he was walking down Baltimore Street and bumped into a cow. He tipped his hat, said excuse me, and walked on.

Martin graduated from Princeton and moved to Queen Anne’s County for a teaching position. He soon left for a teaching position in Virginia. At night, he studied law and became licensed in Virginia as well as in Maryland.

In 1778, he was appointed attorney general of Maryland serving for 30 years. His courtroom style was that of fairness to the accused, but he presented to juries not only evidence that favored his case but also evidence that was against him.

Among his prominent cases are the defense of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase in his impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate in 1804; the defense of Aaron Burr for treason; and numerous other significant cases in the U.S. Supreme Court.

He argued 40 cases in the Supreme Court, including: Fletcher v. Peck 10 U.S. 87 (1810) (holding that a grant to a private land company was a contract within the meaning of the Contract Clause of the Constitution, and once made could not be repealed. The court established a strict interpretation of the contract clause; the case marked the first time the Supreme Court struck down a state law on constitutional grounds); and McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. 316 (1819) (holding that Congress could establish a national bank, and the State of Maryland could not impose a tax on the federal bank. The case held that federal law took priority over state law).

The impeachment case of Justice Chase emanated from the opinion by the Federalists that the Justice was infuriatingly partisan on and off the bench in favor of the Anti-Federalists. During the time of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and thereafter, Anti-Federalists regarded consolidation of governmental power with great suspicion. They argued for power to the states and the people, not for a centralized government.  Luther was an avid Anti-Federalist himself.

A grand jury had indicted Chase for his partisanship prior to the impeachment trial, finding that his conduct was seditious.  Martin prevailed at trial and Chase was acquitted. One important feature of the case was the concept that judicial impeachments must satisfy the standard of “high crimes and misdemeanors” for impeachment of federal judges. Also, the case assured the independence of federal judges from congressional oversight.

In 1807, Luther Martin successfully defended Arron Burr in his trial for treason, which at the time was considered the trial of the century. Chief Justice John Marshall presided. Burr, considered a “founding father,” was the third Vice President of the United States, serving under the first term of Thomas Jefferson. The treason trial was based on allegations that Burr was actively working to persuade states bordering on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to form a separate government. Here is an excerpt from Martin’s closing argument in the case, which was then called the trial of the century:

“We labor against great prejudices against my client, God of heaven! have we already under our form of government arrived at a period when a trial in a court of justice, where life is at stake, shall be but a solemn mockery, a mere idle form and ceremony to transfer innocence from the gaol to the gibbet, to gratify popular indignation, excited by bloodthirsty enemies!” (See “Famous Trials,” by Douglas Linder, www.famous-trials.com/burr.)

Luther Martin’s fortunes declined dramatically in his last years. Heavy drinking, illness, and poverty all took their toll. Paralysis, which had struck in 1819, forced him to retire. In 1826, at the age of 78, Luther Martin died in Aaron Burr’s home in New York City, and he was buried in an unmarked grave in St. John’s churchyard. In his declining years, the Maryland Bar Association imposed a small tax on its members to support him.

Paul Mark Sandler, trial lawyer and author, can be reached at [email protected].