Austin LeCount Fickling (May 11, 1914March 6, 1977) was the first African-American judge of the

District of Columbia Court of Appeals The District of Columbia Court of Appeals is the highest court of the District of Columbia, in the United States. Established in 1970, it is equivalent to a state supreme court, except that its authority is derived from the United States Congr ...

, the highest court for the District of Columbia.

Background

Fickling was born and raised in Washington, D.C., graduating from Dunbar High School. He attended

Miner Teachers College Normal School for Colored Girls (now known as University of the District of Columbia) established in Washington, D.C., in 1851 as an institution of learning and training for young African-American women, especially to train teachers. As Miner Norm ...

and received his law degree from

Terrell Law School The Robert H. Terrell Law School was a historically black law school in Washington, D.C., that offered evening classes from its founding in 1931 until 1950. It was founded by George A. Parker, Philip W. Thomas, Louis R. Mehlinger, Benjamin Gaskin ...

. He was a member of the D.C. branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and in the 1940s he litigated several cases as part of the branch legal redress committee. In 1944 and 1945, for example, he unsuccessfully challenged the composition of condemnation juries in eminent domain actions in the District of Columbia; although the court acknowledged that "neither a person of the colored race nor any female member of the white race has ever sat on a condemnation panel," it held that no illegal discrimination had occurred. In 1954, Fickling became an

Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gove ...

in the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. In 1956, President Eisenhower appointed him to the D.C. Municipal Court, a predecessor to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. In 1967, President Johnson nominated him to the appeals court when that court was expanded from three to six seats. Fickling was the first African-American ever nominated to an appellate court in the District of Columbia. He was the second-longest serving member of that court when he died of cancer in 1977.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fickling, Austin LeCount 1914 births 1977 deaths African-American judges Lawyers from Washington, D.C. Judges of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Assistant United States Attorneys 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century African-American lawyers