Skip to content

Photo From the Attic: Riding the Bench

Before he was elected Senator (but never served), John Curtiss Underwood was appointed judge of the U.S. District Court of Virginia. In 1866, he presided over the grand jury that indicted Confederate President Jefferson Davis for treason, and he later denied bail to Davis because he was in military custody. In 1865, he was elected to the Senate by the Virginia Legislature but could not serve because the state had not yet been readmitted to the Union.

Recent Stories

Major insurers pledge to improve preauthorization

Worried about political violence, some want to scrub home addresses

Injunction, immigration provisions caught in ‘Byrd rule’ review

Trump’s Iran strikes put potential heirs Vance and Rubio in spotlight

Houston, we still have a problem: Shuttle move blocked by ‘Byrd rule’

Capitol Lens | The masked ringer