Home > West's Encyclopedia of American Law > Badger, George Edmund

George Edmund Badger was a lawyer, judge, and politician, and the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court confirmation battle in 1853.

The only son of a lawyer who died prematurely and a daughter of a Revolutionary War leader, Badger was born on April 17, 1795, in New Bern, North Carolina. He was first educated at a local academy and then attended Yale College. Because of poverty, he was forced to leave the college after only two years. He then returned home to North Carolina to study law. In 1814, he served for a short time as a major in a militia called out to repel a threatened British invasion. A year later, he was admitted to the North Carolina bar. He quickly built a reputation as a brilliant and persuasive trial and appellate lawyer. In 1820, after four years of representing New Bern in the state house of commons, he was elected a judge of the superior court, where he served five years before resigning to practice law in...