David Campbell Humphreys Explained

David Campbell Humphreys
Office:Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia
Term Start:May 13, 1870
Term End:July 12, 1879
Appointer:Ulysses S. Grant
Predecessor:George P. Fisher
Successor:Charles Pinckney James
Office2:Member of the Alabama House of Representatives
Term2:1843
1849
1853
1868
Birth Name:David Campbell Humphreys
Birth Date:9 November 1817
Birth Place:Morgan County, Alabama
Death Place:Fairfax County, Virginia

David Campbell Humphreys (November 9, 1817 – July 12, 1879) was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia.

Education and career

Born in Morgan County, Alabama, Humphreys began the practice of law in Madison County, Alabama. He was a member of the Alabama House of Representatives in 1843, 1849, 1853, and 1868. He was a planter and in private practice in Huntsville, Alabama from 1850 to 1861. During the American Civil War, he served in the Confederate States Army, rising to the rank of Colonel.

Federal judicial service

Humphreys was nominated by President Ulysses S. Grant on April 22, 1870, to an Associate Justice seat on the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia (now the United States District Court for the District of Columbia) vacated by Associate Justice George P. Fisher. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 10, 1870, and received his commission on May 13, 1870. His service terminated on July 2, 1879, due to his death in Fairfax County, Virginia.

Unsuccessful nomination

In 1873, President Grant nominated Humphreys to a joint seat on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama and the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama, in an effort to replace the increasingly unpopular Judge Richard Busteed with an Alabama native (Busteed was simultaneously nominated to take Humphreys' seat in the District of Columbia), but the nomination was returned by the Senate as irregular.

Home

Humphreys' house in Huntsville, built in 1848, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.