Whether Duvall is deserving of the title of "the most insignificant" justice in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court has been the subject of much academic interest, most notably a debate between University of Chicago Law Professors David P. Currie and (now-Judge) Frank H. Easterbrook in 1983.

Currie argued that "impartial examination of Duvall's performance reveals to even the uninitiated observer that he achieved an enviable standard of insignificance against which all other justices must be measured.

[6] Duvall served in the American Revolutionary War, first as a mustermaster and commissary of stores in 1776, then as a private in the Maryland militia, where he fought in the Battle of Brandywine and in Morristown, New Jersey.

[6] As an attorney, Gabriel Duvall represented more than 120 enslaved men, women, and children who sued in court for their freedom.

On November 15, 1811, Duvall was nominated by President James Madison to an associate justice seat on the Supreme Court of the United States vacated by fellow Marylander Samuel Chase.

Duvall wrote that the evidence should be allowed, and "people of color from their helpless condition under the uncontrolled authority of a master, are entitled to all reasonable protection.

According to one of Chief Justice Marshall's biographers, Duvall "became distinguished for holding on to his seat for many years after he had become aged and infirm because he was fearful of who would replace him.

"[33] In a 2007 address to the Federalist Society, Chief Justice John Roberts jokingly referred to this as "the Duvall rule.

"[34] According to Prof. Jones, Prince v. Bartlett "is still cited regularly for the distinction first articulated in that case between bankruptcy and mere insolvency.

"[33] Patterson, Walton, and Parker concerned debts to the United States (a subject with which Duvall was familiar due to his experience as Comptroller of the Treasury).

In Crowell v. McFadon, Duvall reversed a trover judgment from the Massachusetts courts against a federal customs collector enforcing the Embargo Act of 1807.

Boyd's Lessee v. Graves held that an agreement as to the location of a survey line was not a contract, and thus was not barred by the statute of frauds.

[42] Piles v. Bouldin held that land grants were to be interpreted by the judge (not the jury), and reversed the judgement below failing to give effect to the statute of limitations.

[46] Duvall authored a one-sentence concurrence in McIver's Lessee v. Walker (1815): "My opinion is that there is no safe rule but to follow the needle.

He died, aged 91, in Prince George's County, Maryland and was buried in the family cemetery at Wigwam, one of the plantations he owned.

[6] Justice Duvall's home, "Marietta", (built 1812-1813) became his permanent residence when his Washington D.C. mansion was used by the State Department after the British burned many Federal buildings during the War of 1812.

[55] His principal heirs were his sister, Sarah Simpson (who died the same year), and four grandchildren (Marcus, Edmund, Mary Frances and Gabriella Augusta Duvall).

[56] His remains were reinterred on Marietta House Museum's grounds circa 1987, as were other family graves endangered by development in the area.

He argued that "impartial examination of Duvall's performance reveals to even the uninitiated observer that he achieved an enviable standard of insignificance against which all other Justices must be measured.

"[2] Currie notes that: "On the quantitative scale of PPY [pages of published opinions per year], therefore, modified by common sense and a spirit of fair play, Duvall seems to me far and away the most insignificant of his colleagues during the time of Chief Justice Marshall.

"[16] Prof. Currie proposed several "Indicators of Insignificance (IOI)" that he used to compare Duvall to other candidates, such as: Thomas Johnson,[59] Robert Trimble,[59] John Rutledge,[60] Bushrod Washington,[61] Henry Brockholst Livingston,[61] Thomas Todd,[61] John McKinley,[62] Nathan Clifford,[63] Alfred Moore,[64] Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar II and Joseph Rucker Lamar,[65] William Henry Moody,[66] Horace Harmon Lurton,[66] George Shiras, Jr.,[66] William R. Day,[66] John Hessin Clarke,[66] and William Cushing.

Could it be that Currie's efforts were simply pseudo-science employed in the pursuit of some predetermined plan to award Duval[l] the coveted prize without serious consideration of candidates so shrouded in obscurity that they escaped proper attention even in a contest of insignificance?