James Harry Covington

James Harry Covington

James Harry Covington (born May 3, 1870 in Easton , Maryland , †  February 4, 1942 in Washington, DC ) was an American lawyer and politician . Between 1909 and 1914 he represented the state of Maryland in the US House of Representatives ; then he became a federal judge .

Career

James Covington attended public schools in his home country and then the Maryland Military Academy at Oxford . He then studied history, literature and economics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia . After studying law at the same university and being admitted to the bar in 1894, he began working in this profession in his hometown of Easton. Between 1903 and 1908 he was a prosecutor in Talbot County . At the same time he embarked on a political career as a member of the Democratic Party . In 1901 he ran unsuccessfully for the Maryland Senate .

In the congressional election of 1908 , Covington was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington in the first constituency of Maryland, where he succeeded William Humphreys Jackson on March 4, 1909 . After two re-elections, he could remain in Congress until his resignation on September 30, 1914 . During this time, the 16th and 17th amendments were ratified.

Covington's resignation came after he was appointed Chief Justice in the District of Columbia . He held this office as the successor to Harry M. Clabaugh between October 1, 1914 and June 1, 1918. He then practiced as a private lawyer in the federal capital. Between 1914 and 1919 he also gave law lectures at Georgetown University . In 1918 he became a member of the Federal Government's Railway Committee. James Covington died in Washington on February 4, 1942 and was buried in Easton.

Web links

• James Harry Covington in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• James Harry Covington in the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges