Joseph Buffington (September 5, 1855 – October 21, 1947) 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. Cou ...

of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and of the United States Circuit Courts for the Third Circuit and previously was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Education and career

Born on September 5, 1855, in Kittanning,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, Buffington received an

Artium Baccalaureus Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in 1875 from

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

in Hartford,

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 cap ...

and

read law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...

in 1878. He entered private practice in Kittanning from 1878 to 1892.

Federal judicial service

Buffington was nominated by President Benjamin Harrison on February 10, 1892, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania vacated by Judge James Hay Reed. 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 February 23, 1892, and received his commission the same day. His service terminated on September 26, 1906, due to his elevation to the Third Circuit. Buffington received a recess appointment from President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

on September 25, 1906, to a joint seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the United States Circuit Courts for the Third Circuit vacated by Judge Marcus W. Acheson. He was nominated to the same position by President Roosevelt on December 3, 1906. He was confirmed by the Senate on December 11, 1906, and received his commission the same day. On December 31, 1911, the Circuit Courts were abolished and he thereafter served only on the Court of Appeals. He was a member of the

Conference of Senior Circuit Judges The Judicial Conference of the United States, formerly known as the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges, was created by the United States Congress in 1922 with the principal objective of framing policy guidelines for administration of judicial cour ...

(now the

Judicial Conference of the United States The Judicial Conference of the United States, formerly known as the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges, was created by the United States Congress in 1922 with the principal objective of framing policy guidelines for administration of judicial cour ...

) from 1922 to 1937. He was the last appeals court judge who continued to serve in active service appointed by President Roosevelt. He assumed

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

on June 1, 1938. His service terminated on October 21, 1947, due to his death in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, Pennsylvania.

Scandal

During the 1930s, Buffington became involved in a scandal involving his colleague on the Court of Appeals, Judge John Warren Davis. Buffington was found to have been signing opinions drafted by Davis, in cases in which Davis received bribes. Davis was forced out of office, but no formal action was taken against Buffington, who was described as being "aged, senile, and nearly blind" by that time. He took what is now called

, a form of semi-retirement, on June 1, 1938, and ceased hearing cases.
, Why Judges Resign: Influences on Federal Judicial Service, 1789 to 1992 , Emily Field Van Tassel , With Beverly Hudson Wirtz and Peter Wonders , Federal Judicial History Office , Federal Judicial Center , 1993

/ref>

Family

Buffington was the son of Ephraim and Margaret Chambers (Orr) Buffington,George Thornton Fleming, ''History of Pittsburgh and Environs'' (1922), p. 860-61. and nephew to a well-known Pennsylvania judge Joseph Buffington (congressman), of the same name. On January 29, 1885, he married Mary Alice Simonton, of

Emmitsburg Emmitsburg is a town in Frederick County, Maryland, United States, south of the Mason-Dixon line separating Maryland from Pennsylvania. Founded in 1785, Emmitsburg is the home of Mount St. Mary's University. The town has two Catholic pilgrima ...

, Maryland.

References

Sources

* Van Tassel, Emily Field, et al., ''Why Judges Resign: Influences on Federal Judicial Service, 1789 to 1992'' (Federal Judicial Center 1993), p. 23.
The Political Graveyard
*

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buffington, Joseph 1855 births 1947 deaths People from Kittanning, Pennsylvania Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania lawyers Pennsylvania state court judges United States federal judges appointed by Benjamin Harrison 19th-century American judges United States court of appeals judges appointed by Theodore Roosevelt 20th-century American judges United States federal judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law