# Has any US Judge served at all three levels of federal courts **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 3, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-us-judge-served-at-all-three-levels-of-federal-courts/584231 "2011-06-03T19:10:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-us-judge-served-at-all-three-levels-of-federal-courts/584231/1 "2011-06-03T19:10:06Z")
Basically has any one ever in a legal career served as a US District Judge, Court of Appeal Judge and a Supreme Court Justice? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-us-judge-served-at-all-three-levels-of-federal-courts/584231/2 "2011-06-03T19:19:15Z")
Most recently, Sonya Sotomayor did…appointed to the District Court by Bush and then Court of Appeals by Clinton, then finally Supreme Court by Obama. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-us-judge-served-at-all-three-levels-of-federal-courts/584231/3 "2011-06-03T19:20:48Z")
For a start, [Sonia Sotomayor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonia_Sotomayor). ETA: Dual post! ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-us-judge-served-at-all-three-levels-of-federal-courts/584231/4 "2011-06-03T19:22:39Z")
Sonia Sotomayor has. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-us-judge-served-at-all-three-levels-of-federal-courts/584231/5 "2011-06-03T19:25:40Z")
Ok, son follow up is she the only one? I ask because unlike most commonwealth countries where then majority of supreme court judges were raised from intermidiet level appellate courts or trial courts many Us Supreme Court Judges are direct appointments. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-us-judge-served-at-all-three-levels-of-federal-courts/584231/6 "2011-06-03T19:32:44Z")
I’m hunting through Wikipedia, and finding a lot of SC justices who have served on the Court of Appeals. Only one District Court judge so far, however, apart from Judge Sotomayor – [Edward Terry Sanford](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Terry_Sanford), who went straight from the District Court to the Supreme Court. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-us-judge-served-at-all-three-levels-of-federal-courts/584231/7 "2011-06-04T22:56:29Z")
I didn’t know that Bush first appointed her. Damn, that guy got hoodwinked at least twice on judges turning out liberal. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-us-judge-served-at-all-three-levels-of-federal-courts/584231/8 "2011-06-04T23:07:33Z")
From Wiki: > [@](#): > > Not only have all justices been attorneys, nearly two thirds had previously been judges.[7] As of 2010[update], eight of the nine sitting justices previously served as judges of the United States Courts of Appeals, while the most recent appointment, Justice Elena Kagan, served as Solicitor General, the attorney responsible for representing the federal government in cases before the Court. Few justices have a background as criminal defense lawyers, and Thurgood Marshall is reportedly the last justice to have had a client in a death penalty case.[94] > > Historically, justices have come from some tradition of public service; only George Shiras, Jr. had no such experience.[95] Relatively few justices have been appointed from among members of Congress. Six were members of the United States Senate at the time of their appointment,[96][97] while one was a sitting member of the House of Representatives.[98] Six more had previously served in the Senate. Three have been sitting governors.[96][99] Only one, William Howard Taft, had been President of the United States.[100] The last justice to have held elected office was Sandra Day O’Connor, who was elected twice to the Arizona State Senate after being appointed there by the governor. > **[Demographics of the Supreme Court of the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States)** > > The demographics of the Supreme Court of the United States encompass the gender, ethnicity, and religious, geographic, and economic backgrounds of the 116 people who have been appointed and confirmed as justices to the Supreme Court. Some of these characteristics have been raised as an issue since the court was established in 1789. For its first 180 years, justices were almost always white male Protestants of Anglo or Northwestern European descent. > Prior to the 20th century, a few Catholics w... ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-us-judge-served-at-all-three-levels-of-federal-courts/584231/9 "2011-06-04T23:32:21Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > I didn’t know that Bush first appointed her. Damn, that guy got hoodwinked at least twice on judges turning out liberal. George H.W. Bush wasn’t as conservative as some people (including himself, perhaps) like to pretend. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-us-judge-served-at-all-three-levels-of-federal-courts/584231/10 "2011-06-05T00:18:37Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > George H.W. Bush wasn’t as conservative as some people (including himself, perhaps) like to pretend. Presidents used to give more deference to the opinions of the Senators from a given state when appointing judges for districts that included those states in return for not having the Senate hold up confirmations (a system that has basically broken down as judicial appointments have become more politicized). Sotomayor was appointed on the recommendation of Democratic Senator Moiyahan. Bush didn’t really have much to do with it, despite it being technically his call.