Brewer, David J

Brewer, David J(osiah)

(born June 20, 1837, Smyrna, Ottoman Empire—died March 28, 1910, Washington, D.C., U.S.) U.S. jurist. Born to U.S. missionaries, he grew up in Connecticut and practiced law in Kansas from 1858. He served in local judgeships (1861–70), on the state supreme court (1870–84), and on the federal circuit court. Appointed by Pres. Benjamin Harrison to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1889, he generally joined conservatives in resisting the trend toward increased federal power and responsibility. In 1895–97 he led the panel that settled the boundary dispute between Venezuela and British Guiana.