Stephen Johnson Field is a name I've never heard before. TIL.
He's best known for his role in the early development of the substantive due process concept, which of course at that time was mostly used to strike down business regulations before twentieth-century Court majorities repurposed it as a tool for expanding privacy rights.
Why would you say he was so unpopular?
Political overambitiousness, mostly. The sources I've read on him are clear that he was not a well-liked man but less clear as to exactly why not.
I haven't heard that Field was deeply disliked on a personal level, though he was ambitious of the presidency. He was primarily disliked for remaining on the Court long past his expiry date in order to set the record for longest-serving Justice. This resulted in him becoming quite senile in his final days on the bench and obstructing a great deal of Court business.
