Colonel William A. Phillips

This article is part of a series about George H. W. Bush
Family Electoral history Pre-vice presidency U.S. Representative for Texas's 7th U.S. Ambassador U.N. China Chair of the RNC Director of Central Intelligence 43rd Vice President of the United States Transition Tenure Reagan administration first inauguration second inauguration Reagan assassination attempt Deregulation 41st President of the United States Presidency timeline Transition Inauguration Policies Environmental Foreign international trips Pardons Appointments Cabinet Judiciary Thomas Tenure Thousand points of light foundation Invasion of Panama Gulf War Operation Restore Hope NAFTA Timeline '89 '90 '91 '92–'93 Presidential campaigns 1980 primaries convention 1988 primaries convention "No new taxes" debates election 1992 primaries convention debates election Vice presidential campaigns 1980 selection convention election 1984 convention election Post-presidency Presidential library Bibliography Awards and honors Bush School of Government Death and state funeral

Following is a list of all Article III United States federal judges appointed by President George H. W. Bush during his presidency. All information is derived from the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public-domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center. In total Bush appointed 193 Article III federal judges, including two Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States, 42 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, 148 judges to the United States district courts and one judge to the United States Court of International Trade.

Additionally, eight Article I federal judicial appointments are listed, six to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and two to the United States Court of Federal Claims. Other Article I appointments by President Bush are not listed.

Eleven of Bush’s appointees remain in active service in the roles to which Bush appointed them: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, five appeals court judges and five district court judges. One district judge and one appellate judge remain in active service on the Supreme Court by appointment of later presidents.

• 
  David Souter was Bush's first Supreme Court appointment, having first been appointed by Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
• 
  Bush appointed Clarence Thomas to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and then elevated him to the Supreme Court.
• 
  Samuel Alito, appointed by Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, was later elevated to the Supreme Court.

• 
  Bush appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York; Sotomayor was later elevated to the Second Circuit, and then to the Supreme Court.
• 
  Bush named Louis Freeh to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, where Freeh sat for two years before becoming Director of the FBI.
• 
  Vaughn Walker, appointed by Bush to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and would later be revealed to be the earliest known gay federal judge.^[1]

United States Supreme Court justices

Courts of appeals

District courts

United States Court of International Trade

Specialty courts (Article I)

United States Court of Federal Claims

United States Court of Military Appeals

United States Court of Veterans Appeals

United States Tax Court

Territorial courts (Article IV)

Notes

References

General

Specific

Sources

• Federal Judicial Center