John Joseph Smith
Appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1960 and confirmed by voice vote, John Joseph Smith was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He earned a law degree from Yale Law School in 1927. He previously served on the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1904–1980
- Appointed by
- Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1960
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Yale College 1925 · Yale Law School 1927
- Succeeded
- Carroll Clark Hincks
- Succeeded by
- Thomas Joseph Meskill
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1941 | District of Connecticut succeeded Edwin Stark Thomas | F.D. Roosevelt (D) | Voice vote |
| 1960 | Second Circuit succeeded Carroll Clark Hincks | Eisenhower (R) | Voice vote |
Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own. A voice vote means the chamber approved aloud. No senator-by-senator tally is recorded.
Confirmation vote
Voice vote
The Senate approved this confirmation aloud, with no senator-by-senator tally recorded. Recorded roll-call votes begin in 1989.
Education
| Yale College | B.A. | 1925 |
| Yale Law School | LL.B. | 1927 |
Judicial Record
In our data, Smith authored 75 published opinions for the court (1942–2011). Most cited: Mill Creek Group, Inc. v. Federal Deposit Insurance (26 citations).
Published, precedential opinions from the CourtListener corpus. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.
Selected opinions
| Year | Case | Citation | Cited |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Mill Creek Group, Inc. v. Federal Deposit Insurance | 136 F. Supp. 2d 36 | 26 |
| 1959 | Gallina v. Fraser | 177 F. Supp. 856 | 26 |
| 1949 | Hennessey v. Federal Security Administrator | 88 F. Supp. 664 | 22 |
| 1954 | Grier v. United States | 120 F. Supp. 395 | 21 |
| 1959 | United States Ex Rel. Stinnett v. Hegstrom | 178 F. Supp. 17 | 18 |
| 1951 | Schreyer v. Casco Products Corp. | 97 F. Supp. 159 | 18 |
| 1948 | United States v. United Aircraft Corporation | 80 F. Supp. 52 | 18 |
| 1946 | Buckland v. United States | 66 F. Supp. 681 | 18 |
| 1958 | United States Ex Rel. Rogers v. Richmond | 178 F. Supp. 44 | 17 |
| 1954 | Beardsley v. United States | 126 F. Supp. 775 | 16 |
| 1949 | United States v. Smith | 87 F. Supp. 293 | 14 |
| 1942 | Spector Motor Service, Inc. v. McLaughlin | 47 F. Supp. 671 | 14 |
| 1991 | BERGESEN Dy A/S v. Lindholm | 760 F. Supp. 976 | 13 |
| 1953 | Cyr v. F. S. Payne Co. | 112 F. Supp. 526 | 13 |
| 1949 | MacKay v. United States | 88 F. Supp. 696 | 13 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 75 authored opinions in our data. “Cited” is inbound citations across the CourtListener corpus. Case links open the ruling’s full text (CourtListener) or its page here; read the methodology and verify against the primary source.
Questions & answers
- Who appointed John Joseph Smith?
- President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed John Joseph Smith to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1960.
- Was John Joseph Smith appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- John Joseph Smith was appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was John Joseph Smith's confirmation vote?
- John Joseph Smith was confirmed by voice vote on September 1, 1960. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was John Joseph Smith on?
- John Joseph Smith was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: House Committee on Military Affairs (detail), photograph, 1935-1936, Collection of U.S. House of Representatives (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons
- CourtListener bulk data (Free Law Project): authored opinions & citation counts
How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources
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19 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).