Each state, so that it does not abridge the great fundamental rights belonging, under the Constitution, to all citizens, may grant or withhold such civil rights as it pleases; all that is required is that, in this respect, its laws shall be impartial.

According to Almont Lindsey's 1942 book The Pullman Strike Trumbull took part in defending Eugene Debs and other labor leaders of the American Railway Union who had been convicted for violating a federal court injunction during the 1894 Pullman railroad strike. He practiced law in Greenville Georgia until 1837 when he moved west to Alton Illinois. Butler's hearings and subsequent inquiries revealed evidence that some acquittal votes were acquired by promises of patronage jobs and cash cards.