Best Us Federal

Frank M. Johnson Jr. was a federal judge serving on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals during the mid-20th century. He is notable for his significant contributions to civil rights law. His rulings in the 1950s and 60s, particularly regarding school desegregation and authorization of the Selma march,...

Richard A. Posner is an American jurist and legal scholar who served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1981 to 2017. A prominent figure in the law and economics movement, he applied economic theory to legal doctrines during his tenure. He also taught at th...

William Wayne Justice was a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas, appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968. He issued numerous rulings that mandated structural reforms of Texas state institutions, frequently overriding local political opposition. His decisions addre...

John J. Sirica was a United States District Judge for the District of Columbia who presided over the historic trials resulting from the 1972 Watergate break-in. Serving as the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, he applied significant pressure on the defendants to co...

Frank H. Easterbrook has served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit since 1985, including a tenure as chief judge from 2005 to 2012. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, he is widely recognized as a leading proponent of the law and economics movement, which appl...

Jed S. Rakoff is a senior United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, appointed in 1995. He has overseen numerous prominent financial fraud and securities cases, and is known for scrutinizing SEC consent decrees, notably refusing to approve an SEC-Citigroup settlement in 2011...

Diane Pamela Wood is a United States Circuit Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, a position she has held since 1995 following her appointment by President Bill Clinton. She served as the Chief Judge of the Seventh Circuit from 2013 to 2020. Recognized as a prominent liberal j...

Jon O. Newman is a United States Circuit Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, assuming senior status in 1997. Appointed to the court by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, he previously served as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. He is recognized b...

William Alsup is a United States district judge serving in the Northern District of California. He is especially associated with complex technology litigation, including Oracle America v. Google, a copyright dispute concerning Java application programming interfaces that continued through multiple t...

J. Michael Luttig is a United States federal judge who served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1991 to 2006, establishing a reputation as a conservative and originalist jurist. In 2006, he resigned from the federal bench to become the General Counsel and Senior Vice President...

Florence Ellinwood Allen was a pioneering American jurist and a significant figure in the advancement of women in the legal profession. In 1922, she became the first woman elected to the Ohio Supreme Court, where she served for over a decade. In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed her to...

Merrick B. Garland is an American lawyer and federal judge who served as chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and became United States attorney general in 2021. President Barack Obama nominated him to the Supreme Court in 2016, but the Senate did not...

Emmet G. Sullivan is a senior United States District Judge for the District of Columbia, appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994. Throughout his tenure, he has presided over several high-profile cases, including the corruption trial of Senator Ted Stevens and the prosecution of former National S...

Robert Heron Bork was an American legal scholar and jurist who served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He is widely known for his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan, which was rejected by the Senate following...

Amy Berman Jackson is a U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia, appointed by President Obama in 2011. Born in 1954, she received her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1979 and worked in private practice before joining the federal bench. She presided over several high-profile cases arising fr...

Phyllis A. Kravitch was a United States Circuit Judge who made history as the first woman appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in 1979. Nominated by President Jimmy Carter, she continued her service on the newly established Eleventh Circuit following the 1981 circuit reorgani...

Kimba Wood is an American federal judge who joined the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1988 and later served as its chief judge. She presided over prominent criminal and civil proceedings, including the 1990 sentencing of financier Michael Milken following his s...

Richard J. Leon is a United States district judge serving on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Appointed to the court by President George W. Bush, he has handled litigation involving national security, federal regulation, and detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. In 2013 he ruled tha...

Federal judge who sentenced Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to death for espionage in 1953 and later served as Chief Judge of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit (2007–2017) known for provocative, often libertarian opinions who resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations in 2017.

U.S. District Judge (S.D. Fla.) appointed by Trump in 2020 who presided over the federal classified documents case against former President Donald Trump.