Thomas Walter Swan (December 20, 1877 – July 13, 1975) was a

United States circuit judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate ju ...

Education and career

Born in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

Swan received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

in 1900. He received a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...

from Harvard Law School in 1903. He was in private practice of law in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

from 1903 to 1916. He was a lecturer in law at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

from 1903 to 1904, and in 1908. He was Dean and Professor of Law at

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...

from 1916 to 1927.

Federal judicial service

Swan was nominated by President Calvin Coolidge on December 15, 1926, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Henry Wade Rogers. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on December 22, 1926, and received his commission the same day. He served as Chief Judge and as a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 1951 to 1953. He assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

on July 1, 1953. His service was terminated on July 13, 1975, due to his death.

Notable decisions as sitting judge

* '' Nichols v. Universal Pictures Corp.'' - 1930 * ''

United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries ''United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries'', 86 F.2d 737 (2d Cir. 1936) (often just ''U.S. v. One Package''), was an ''in rem'' United States Court of Appeals case in the Second Circuit involving birth control. Background In 1873 Co ...

'' - 1936 * '' United States v. Peoni'' - 1938 * '' Kenan v. Commissioner'' - 1940 * '' United States v. Crimmins'' - 1941 * '' United States v. Alcoa'' - 1945 * '' Farid-Es-Sultaneh v. Commissioner'' - 1947 * '' United States v. Drescher'' - 1950 *''

American Communications Ass'n v. Douds ''American Communications Association v. Douds'', 339 U.S. 382 (1950), is a 5-to-1 ruling by the United States Supreme Court which held that the Taft–Hartley Act's imposition of an anti- communist oath on labor union leaders does not violate th ...

'' - 1950 * ''

Wilko v. Swan ''Wilko v. Swan'', 346 U.S. 427 (1953), is a United States Supreme Court decision on the arbitration of securities fraud claims. It had originally been brought by an investor who claimed his broker at Hayden Stone had sold stock to him without di ...

'' - 1953 *'' Stanton v. United States'' - 1959

References

Sources

* * (biography of Learned Hand, Swan's fellow judge on the Second Circuit, contains extensive discussion of Swan) * Marcia Nelson, ''The Remarkable Hands: An Affectionate Portrait'' (Federal Bar Foundation 1983) * Marvin Schick, ''Learned Hand's Court'' (Johns Hopkins 1970) {{DEFAULTSORT:Swan, Thomas 1877 births 1975 deaths Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit United States court of appeals judges appointed by Calvin Coolidge 20th-century American judges Yale University alumni Harvard Law School alumni Deans of Yale Law School Yale Sterling Professors

Education and career

Federal judicial service

Notable decisions as sitting judge

See also

References

Sources