Seth Shepard


Seth Shepard was an Associate Justice and Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia.

Education and career

Born in Brenham, Texas, Shepard was a private in the Confederate States Army from 1864 to 1865. He received a Bachelor of Laws from Washington College in 1868 and entered private practice in Brenham. He was a member of the Texas Senate from 1874 to 1875, thereafter returning to private practice in Galveston, Texas until 1886, and then in Dallas, Texas from 1886 to 1893.

Federal judicial service

Shepard was nominated by President Grover Cleveland on April 14, 1893, to the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, to a new Associate Justice seat authorized by 27 Stat. 434. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 15, 1893, and received his commission the same day. His service terminated on January 19, 1905, due to his elevation to be Chief Justice of the same court.
Shepard was nominated by President Theodore Roosevelt on December 16, 1904, to the Chief Justice seat on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia vacated by Chief Justice Richard Henry Alvey. He was confirmed by the Senate on January 5, 1905, and received his commission the same day. His service terminated on September 30, 1917, due to his retirement.

Other service

Concurrent with his federal judicial service, Shepard was a lecturer in law at Georgetown University from 1895 to 1910.

Death

Shepard died on December 3, 1917, in Washington, D.C.