Louis E. McComas

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Louis Emory McComas (1846–1907) was an American lawyer, politician, and judge who served in Congress and on the federal courts in Washington, D.C. Born near Hagerstown, Maryland, he studied at St. James College and Dickinson College, and read law in 1868, entering private practice in Hagerstown.

McComas was elected as a Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Maryland’s 6th district, serving from 1883 to 1891. After leaving Congress, he practiced law in Baltimore and taught international law at Georgetown University. He also served as secretary of the Republican National Committee in 1892.

In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison gave him a recess appointment to the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia (now the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia). He was confirmed in 1893 and served as a judge there until resigning in 1899.

McComas was then elected a U.S. Senator from Maryland, serving from 1899 to 1905. He chaired the Committee on Organization, Conduct, and Expenditures of Executive Departments and later the Committee on Education and Labor.

In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt gave him another recess appointment, this time to the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia (now the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit). He was confirmed in December 1905 and served until his death in November 1907 in Washington, D.C. He is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Hagerstown.

His family continued his political legacy: his granddaughter Katharine Byron and great-grandson Goodloe Byron also served in the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland.