List of federal judges appointed by Thomas Jefferson explained

Following is a list of all Article III United States federal judges appointed by President Thomas Jefferson during his presidency.^[1] In total Jefferson appointed 19 Article III federal judges, including 3 Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States, 7 judges to the United States circuit courts, and 9 judges to the United States district courts. Three of Jefferson's circuit court appointments were to seats that had been created by the Midnight Judges Act, signed by John Adams to allow the appointment of many of his supporters in the closing days of his administration. The service of these judges, including those appointed by Jefferson, terminated on July 1, 1802, due to the repeal of the Act and the accompanying abolition of the court.

Two of Jefferson's appointees, William Cranch (whom Jefferson elevated to Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia) and Henry Potter (appointed first to the Fifth Circuit, and then to the District of North Carolina) served into the 1850s. Potter's 55 years on the latter court remains the longest period of active service in United States federal court history.

United States Supreme Court justices

	Justice	Seat	State	Former justice	Nomination date	Confirmation date	Began active service	Ended active service
			South Carolina
			New York				^[2]
			Virginia

Circuit courts

	Judge	Circuit	Nomination date	Confirmation date	Began active service	Ended active service
					^[3]
					^[4] ^[5]
						^[6]
					^[7]

See also

• Marbury v. Madison (1803)
• Stuart v. Laird (1803)
• United States v. More (1805)

Notes

1. All information on the names, terms of service, and details of appointment of federal judges is derived from the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public-domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
2. [Recess appointment]
3. Appointed as Chief Judge.
4. [Recess appointment]
5. Appointed as an Associate Judge.
6. Appointed to a seat created by the Midnight Judges Act, abolished with the repeal of that act on July 1, 1802.
7. Appointed as Chief Judge after previously serving as an Associate Judge of the same court.
8. See List of United States district and territorial courts
9. [Recess appointment]
10. Reassigned by operation of law to the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York on April 9, 1814.

References

General

• Web site: Judges of the United States Courts . . . 2009-04-03 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160730115701/http://www.fjc.gov/public/home.nsf/hisj . 2016-07-30 .

Specific

Sources

• Federal Judicial Center