Jurist, US Supreme Court Associate Justice. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in this position from December 1910 until January 1916. The son of a Christian Church (or Disciples of Christ) minister, he attended the Academy of Richmond County in Augusta, Georgia, where he lived next door and became close friends with future US President Woodrow Wilson. After graduating from the Penn Lucy School near Baltimore, Maryland, he studied for a while at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia and then attended Bethany College in Bethany, West Virginia, graduating in 1877. The following year he studied law at Washington and Lee University School of Law in Lexington, Virginia and returned to Augusta to practice law. In `886 he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives and served until 1889. In 1893 he was appointed by the Supreme Court of Georgia as a member of the Commission to Recodify the Laws of Georgia which was adopted by the Georgia General Assembly two years later. In January 1901 he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Georgia and was re-elected in 1903. In 1905 he resigned his position and returned to his law practice. In December 1910 he was nominated by US President William Howard Taft as an Associate Justice on the US Supreme Court, to fill the vacancy left by retiring Justice William Henry Moody, and he was confirmed by the US Senate in the same month. In 1914 he was one of two chosen to represent the US at the ABC Powers Conference that was convened to avoid a war between the US and Mexico over the Veracruz Incident. In late 1915 his health began to fail and he died shortly afterwards at the age of 58 and was succeeded by Louis Brandeis.
Jurist, US Supreme Court Associate Justice. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in this position from December 1910 until January 1916. The son of a Christian Church (or Disciples of Christ) minister, he attended the Academy of Richmond County in Augusta, Georgia, where he lived next door and became close friends with future US President Woodrow Wilson. After graduating from the Penn Lucy School near Baltimore, Maryland, he studied for a while at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia and then attended Bethany College in Bethany, West Virginia, graduating in 1877. The following year he studied law at Washington and Lee University School of Law in Lexington, Virginia and returned to Augusta to practice law. In `886 he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives and served until 1889. In 1893 he was appointed by the Supreme Court of Georgia as a member of the Commission to Recodify the Laws of Georgia which was adopted by the Georgia General Assembly two years later. In January 1901 he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Georgia and was re-elected in 1903. In 1905 he resigned his position and returned to his law practice. In December 1910 he was nominated by US President William Howard Taft as an Associate Justice on the US Supreme Court, to fill the vacancy left by retiring Justice William Henry Moody, and he was confirmed by the US Senate in the same month. In 1914 he was one of two chosen to represent the US at the ABC Powers Conference that was convened to avoid a war between the US and Mexico over the Veracruz Incident. In late 1915 his health began to fail and he died shortly afterwards at the age of 58 and was succeeded by Louis Brandeis.
Bio by: William Bjornstad
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