Louis Emory McComas

Background

McComas was born near Hagerstown, Maryland.

Education

He attended Saint James College in Maryland and, in 1866, graduated from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Career

In later life, he served as a United States federal judge. In 1868, after studying law, McComas was admitted to the bar and began practice in Hagerstown, where he was a communicant at Saint John"s Church. In 1876, McComas was defeated in his bid for a seat in the Forty-fifth Congress, but after nearly a decade out of politics, McComas was elected in 1882 to the Forty-eighth and to the three succeeding Congresses.

He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1890 to the Fifty-second Following his tenure in Congress, McComas served as secretary of the Republican National Committee in 1892.

On November 17, 1892, he received a recess appointment from President Benjamin Harrison as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, to a seat vacated by Martin V. Montgomery. Formally nominated on December 6, 1892, McComas was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 25, 1893, and received his commission the same day.

He served in that capacity until 1899, and during this tenure also served as a professor of international law at Georgetown University in the District. McComas was elected to the United States Senate in 1898.

McComas did not run for a second term in the Senate after receiving a recess appointment from President Theodore Roosevelt as a justice of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on June 26, 1905, to a seat vacated by Martin F. Morris.

Formally nominated on December 5, 1905, McComas was confirmed by the United States Senate, and received his commission, on December 6, 1905. He served in that position until his death in Washington, District of Columbia in 1907, and is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery (Maryland) in Hagerstown.

Membership

While senator, he served as chairman of the Committee on Organization, Conduct, and Expenditures of Executive Departments (Fifty-sixth Congress) and as a member of the Committee on Education and Labor (Fifty-seventh and Fifty-eighth Congresses).

Connections

Father:

Frederick C. Mccomas

Mother:

Catharine (Angle) Mccomas

Spouse:

Leah M. Humrichouse