A specialized Article III court / Established 1926

U.S. Customs Court

New York City · A specialized federal court.

The U.S. Customs Court heard civil cases on the classification and valuation of imported goods from 1926 until 1980, when it was renamed the U.S. Court of International Trade. Its judges were nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. This page lists every judge to serve on the court.

Judges in history

Currently serving

Seats over time

18 / 9

Appointed D / R

Current judges

No currently serving judges on record.

Former judges

Judge	Appointed by	Years
Nils Andreas Boe	Nixon (R)	1971–1980
Bernard Newman	Johnson (D)	1968–1980
Edward Domenic Re	Johnson (D)	1968–1980
Samuel Murray Rosenstein	Johnson (D)	1968–1980
Lindley Garrison Beckworth Sr.	Johnson (D)	1967–1968
Herbert Naaman Maletz	Johnson (D)	1967–1980
James Lopez Watson	Johnson (D)	1966–1980
Frederick Landis	Johnson (D)	1965–1980
Philip Nichols Jr.	Johnson (D)	1964–1966
Scovel Richardson	Eisenhower (R)	1957–1980
Mary Honor Donlon	Eisenhower (R)	1955–1977
David John Wilson	Eisenhower (R)	1954–1976
Morgan Dennis Ford	Truman (D)	1949–1980
Paul Peter Rao	Truman (D)	1949–1980
Jed Joseph Johnson	Truman (D)	1947–1963
Irvin Charles Mollison	Truman (D)	1945–1962
Charles Drummond Lawrence	Roosevelt (D)	1943–1975
William Purrington Cole	Roosevelt (D)	1942–1952
William Alexander Ekwall	Roosevelt (D)	1942–1956
Webster J. Oliver	Roosevelt (D)	1940–1969
Thomas Joseph Walker	Roosevelt (D)	1940–1945
William John Keefe	Roosevelt (D)	1933–1947
Fredrick William Dallinger	Hoover (R)	1932–1942
Walter Howard Evans	Hoover (R)	1931–1941
David Hayes Kincheloe	Hoover (R)	1931–1948
Genevieve Rose Cline	Coolidge (R)	1928–1953
William Josiah Tilson	Coolidge (R)	1928–1949
William Charles Adamson	(reassignment) (N)	1926–1928
George Stewart Brown	(reassignment) (N)	1926–1941
Israel Fredrick Fischer	(reassignment) (N)	1926–1932
William Barberie Howell	(reassignment) (N)	1926–1927
Charles Paul McClelland	(reassignment) (N)	1926–1939
Jerry Bartholomew Sullivan	(reassignment) (N)	1926–1939
Byron Sylvester Waite	(reassignment) (N)	1926–1930
George Emery Weller	(reassignment) (N)	1926–1930
George Morley Young	(reassignment) (N)	1926–1932

How a judge gets here. Each judge is nominated by a president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, then holds a numbered seat, for life, until they take senior status, or until they leave the bench. Open any judge to see who appointed them, how the Senate voted, and whom they succeeded, a chain that runs back to 1926.

Source: FJC Biographical Directory. Data last verified 2026-06-29. Verify against the primary source before relying.