the Vicksburg Cotton Exchange and Chamber of Commerce at the National Mississippi River Improvement convention in Washington D.C. During the convention, Fitzgerald met President Chester A. Arthur who asked if the Mississippi attorney would be interested in a Federal post. Fitzgerald requested a judgeship in Dakota Territory, a request that was repeated in December 1883. On March 3, 1884, following the death of Justice A. W. Sheldon, President Arthur nominated Fitzgerald for a seat on the Arizona Territorial Supreme Court. Senate confirmation occurred a week later. He took his oath of office on April 7, 1884. Fitzgerald was assigned to judicial district one, consisting initially of Graham, Pima and Pinal counties and changed to Cochise, Graham, and Pima counties in 1885, and made his home in Tucson, Arizona Territory. Only a single ruling survives from his time on the Arizona bench, Smith v. County of Mohave, (1885) 2 Arizona 27. The one-page ruling determined that an 1881 act by the legislature did not remove the right to file suit against an Arizona county. The inauguration of Grover Cleveland in 1885 signaled the end of Fitzgerald's time on the Arizona bench. The judge was popular among the territorial population and protest meetings were organized to fight the expected removal. Despite these efforts, President Cleveland named Fitzgerald's replacement, William H. Barnes, on October 23, 1885. Fitzgerald administered the oath of office to his successor on October 31, 1885. California Fitzgerald moved to Los Angeles, California, in early 1886. There he worked briefly with Charles Silent at the legal firm of Silent, Wade, and Fitzgerald before joining the firm of Anderson, Fitzgerald, and Anderson. During this time he was active in the local legal community, helping perform an 1888 reorganization of the Los Angeles Bar Association. Outside his legal career, Fitzgerald served as chairman of the board for the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, director of the California Sewer Pipe Company, and was active in the state Republican party, being elected chairman of the party's central committee in 1892. In 1891, Fitzgerald became a Supreme Court Commissioner. He held the position until his resignation in May 1892 when he joined the San Francisco legal firm of Estes, Fitzgerald, & Miller. On February 2, 1893, Governor Henry Markham appointed Fitzgerald to fill the seat on the California Supreme Court left empty by the death of Justice John Sharpstein. During the two years he served