Benjamin Robbins Curtis (November 4, 1809 – September 15, 1874) was an American lawyer and judge who served as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1851 to 1857.

Young Curtis attended common school in Newton and beginning in 1825 Harvard College, where he won an essay writing contest in his junior year.

[6] In 1836, Curtis participated in the Massachusetts "freedom suit" of Commonwealth v. Aves as one of the attorneys who unsuccessfully defended a slaveholding father.

[7] When New Orleans resident Mary Slater went to Boston to visit her father, Thomas Aves, she brought with her a young slave girl about six years of age, named Med.

The Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society and others sought a writ of habeas corpus against Aves, contending that Med became free by virtue of her mistress's having brought her voluntarily into Massachusetts.

As with his fellow Massachusettsan and Harvard graduate John Adams, Curtis's willingness to serve as defense attorney for the Aves family did not necessarily reflect his personal or legal views, as shown by his later dissent in the 1857 Dred Scott decision.

[8] Appointed chairman of a committee to reform state judicial procedures, they presented the Massachusetts Practice Act of 1851.

"[9] At the time, Curtis was viewed as a rival to Rufus Choate and was thought to be the preeminent leader of the New England bar.

Curtis came from a politically connected family, and had studied under Joseph Story and John Hooker Ashmun[10] at Harvard Law School.

[11] Curtis received a recess appointment to the United States Supreme Court on September 22, 1851, by President Millard Fillmore, filling the vacancy caused by the death of Levi Woodbury.

Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster persuaded Fillmore to nominate Curtis to the Supreme Court, and was his primary sponsor.

Curtis concluded that the federal government has exclusive power to regulate commerce only when national uniformity is required.

[14][17] As one source puts it, "a bitter disagreement and coercion by Roger Taney prompted Benjamin Curtis's departure from the Court in 1857.

[22] This put Curtis out of the running when Lincoln had to choose a successor to Chief Justice Roger Taney, who died in October 1864.

[12][14] After the impeachment trial, Curtis declined President Andrew Johnson's offer of the position of U.S. Attorney General.

[10] A highly recommended candidate for the Chief Justice position upon the death of Salmon P. Chase in 1873, Curtis was passed over by President Ulysses S.