William C. Micou

William Chatfield Micou (January 11, 1807 - April 16, 1854) was a lawyer and unsuccessful nominee to the United States Supreme Court.

William Micou
Personal details
Born(1807-01-11)January 11, 1807
Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
DiedApril 16, 1854(1854-04-16) (aged 47)
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Political partyWhig
EducationUniversity of Georgia (BA)

Biography

Micou was born in Augusta, Georgia on January 11, 1807, the son of William Micou and Martha Ann Chatfield.[1] He graduated from the University of Georgia in 1825.[2]

Micou studied law, was admitted to the bar, practiced in Augusta, and also served as Augusta's postmaster.[3] He later moved to New Orleans, Louisiana and continued to practice law, joining the firm of Judah P. Benjamin in the late 1840s.[4]

On February 14, 1853 President Millard Fillmore, a Whig, nominated Micou to fill the United States Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice John McKinley. Fillmore had attempted to fill the vacancy twice before, but was unsuccessful; the Senate tabled the August 1852 nomination of Edward A. Bradford, and the January 1853 nomination George Edmund Badger was postponed.[5] Fillmore next offered to nominate Judah Benjamin, who had been elected to the Senate for a term beginning on March 4, 1853, but he declined the position and recommended Micou.[6]

Micou's nomination was not acted upon by the Democratic-led Senate as it was late in the session and Franklin Pierce also a Democrat, was scheduled to succeed Fillmore as President on March 4, so not acting on Micou's nomination would give Pierce the opportunity to submit a nomination of his own.[7] Pierce nominated John Archibald Campbell on March 21, and Campbell was confirmed by the Senate on March 25.[8]

Micou was already in poor health at the time of his nomination and died in New Orleans on April 16, 1854 from an unspecified brain disease thought to have resulted from overwork.[9][10] He was buried at Live Oak Cemetery in Pass Christian, Mississippi.

References
  1. Green, Raleigh Travers (1900). Genealogical and Historical Notes on Culpeper County, Virginia. Culpeper, VA: Exponent Printing Office. pp. 76–77.
  2. Hull, Augustus Longstreet (1894). A Historical Sketch of the University of Georgia. Atlanta, GA: Foote & Davies Co. p. 169.
  3. United States Senate (1887). Journal of the Senate of the United States, Volume 21, Issue 1. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 568.
  4. Meade, Robert Douthat; Davis, William C. (2001). Judah P. Benjamin: Confederate Statesman. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-8071-2744-5.
  5. McMillion, Barry J.; Rutkus, Denis Steven (July 6, 2018). "Supreme Court Nominations, 1789 to 2017: Actions by the Senate, the Judiciary Committee, and the President" (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  6. Evans, Eli N. (1989) [1988]. Judah P. Benjamin: The Jewish Confederate (First Free Press Paperback ed.). New York City: The Free Press. p. 83. ISBN 0-02-909911-0.
  7. Finkelman, Paul (2014). Supreme Court, The: Controversies, Cases, and Characters from John Jay to John Roberts. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 202–203. ISBN 978-1-6106-9394-3.
  8. Warren, Charles (1922). The Supreme Court in United States History: 1856-1918. Volume 3. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company. p. 481.
  9. Hall, Kermit, ed. (2005). The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States (2nd Edition). ISBN 9780195176612.
  10. Meade, Robert Douthat; Davis, William C. (2001). Judah P. Benjamin: Confederate Statesman. LSU Press. ISBN 9780807127445.


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