 The injection of Taylor 's claim under the Fourteenth Amendment gave him grounds to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court . In a majority opinion delivered by Chief Justice Melville Fuller , the Supreme Court also rejected Taylor 's claim to loss of property without due process and thus refused to intervene on Taylor 's behalf , claiming that no federal issues were in question and the court lacked jurisdiction . Justices Gray , White , Shiras , and Peckham concurred with the majority opinion . Justice Joseph McKenna concurred with the decision to dismiss , but expressed reservations about the determination that an elected office was not property . Justice David J. Brewer , joined by Justice Henry B. Brown , contended that the Supreme Court did have jurisdiction , but concurred with the result in favor of Beckham . Kentuckian John Marshall Harlan authored the lone dissent from the majority opinion , claiming that the court did have jurisdiction and should have found in favor of Taylor based on his claim of loss of property without due process . He further argued that elective office fell under the definition of " liberty " as used in the Fourteenth Amendment and was protected by due process . 
