Charles Merrill Hough

Born on May 18, 1858, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Hough received an Artium Baccalaureus degree in 1879 from Dartmouth College and read law in 1883. He entered private practice in New York City from 1884 to 1906.[1]

Hough was nominated by President Theodore Roosevelt on June 20, 1906, to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (S.D.N.Y.), to a new seat authorized by 34 Stat. 202. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 27, 1906, and received his commission the same day.

Hough's most historically memorable judicial ruling came in 1908 in United States vs. Press Publishing Co.[2][3] Hough quashed a libel suit brought by the federal government on behalf of President Roosevelt against a newspaper, the New York World, that had been critical of the way the administration handled the Panama Canal startup.[2][lower-alpha 1] The Supreme Court of the United States unanimously upheld Hough’s ruling in 1911.[2][lower-alpha 2]

In 1909, Hough ruled in favor of the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (ALAM) against the Ford Motor Company, regarding an automobile patent issued to George B. Selden that ALAM was using to collect royalties.[4][5] Hough's ruling was overturned on appeal in 1911, allowing Ford (and other manufacturers) to produce automobiles without paying a royalty.[6]

Hough's service with S.D.N.Y. terminated on September 5, 1916, due to his elevation to the Second Circuit.[1]

Hough was nominated by President Woodrow Wilson on August 15, 1916, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated by Judge Emile Henry Lacombe. Hough was confirmed by the Senate on August 21, 1916, and received his commission the same day. He was a member of the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges (now the Judicial Conference of the United States) in 1926. His service terminated on April 22, 1927, due to his death in New York City.[1]

Hough was the son of brigadier general Alfred Lacey Hough (1826–1908) and Mary Jane Merrill. He married Ethel Powers in 1906. They bore two children, Helen Anastasia Hough (1905–1978) and John Newbold Hough (1906–2000).

• Charles Merrill Hough at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.

• United States v. Press Publishing Co., 219 U.S. 1 (1911)
• Charles Merrill Hough at Find a Grave