Austin LeCount Fickling (May 11, 1914March 6, 1977) was the first

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

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, the capital city of the United States. The court was established in 1942 as the Municipal Court of Appeals, and it has been the court of last resort ...

, the highest court for the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

Background

Fickling was born and raised in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, graduating from Dunbar High School. He attended Miner Teachers College and received his law degree from Terrell Law School. He was a member of the D.C. branch of the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

, 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 Eminent domain, also known as land acquisition, compulsory purchase, resumption, resumption/compulsory acquisition, or expropriation, is the compulsory acquisition of private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and t ...

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 gov ...

in the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. In 1956,

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appointed him to the D.C. Municipal Court, a predecessor to the

Superior Court of the District of Columbia The Superior Court of the District of Columbia, commonly referred to as DC Superior Court, is the trial court for the District of Columbia, in the United States. It hears cases involving Criminal justice, criminal, Civil law (common law), civi ...

. In 1967, President

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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