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Benjamin Robbins Curtis by Albert Rosenthal, 1889

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    Benjamin Robbins Curtis by Albert Rosenthal, 1889

    This etching of Benjamin Robbins Curtis was created by Philadelphia artist Albert Rosenthal in 1889.

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    Portrait of Benjamin Robbins Curtis

    This reproduction of a portrait shows Benjamin Robbins Curtis seated wearing his judge’s robes.

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    Benjamin Robbins Curtis’ Supreme Court Commission by President Fillmore, 1851

    This commission, signed by President Millard Fillmore, appointed Curtis as an associate justice to the U. S. Supreme Court.

Commission of Benjamin Robbins Curtis as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, December 20, 1851
John Peter Van Ness Throop, Washington D.C., engraver
Diplomas, honorary degrees, citations and awards of persons affiliated with Harvard Law School: Box 1
HOLLIS 3917349

Until as late as the 1940s, the path to the Supreme Court did not require attendance at a law school; even those early justices who did attend were not required to graduate or sit for a bar exam. Justice Benjamin Robbins Curtis (LL.B. 1832) is notable for being the first Supreme Court justice to have graduated from a law school.