Stephen Johnson Field is the closest the US supreme court has ever had. Johnson was attacked by a former California supreme court justice David Terry. Field had ruled against Sarah Althea Hill who was being represented by David Terry in a Divorce and inheritance case. When Field ruled against them Terry and Hill both violently threatened Field and were held in contempt.

Several years later in 1989 Field and Terry happened to run into each other on a dining car in Stockton, California. Terry confronted Field and then struck him twice on the side of the head before a U.S. Marshall acting as Field's bodyguard shot Terry dead. Hill who became Terry's wife after the case. Had murder charges filed against the Marshall claiming that Terry had not actually attacked Field and that the U.S. Marshall could not act as a bodyguard for Field. The U.S. supreme court ruled against Hill with Field recusing himself.