Who appointed Philip Willis Tone?

President Richard M. Nixon appointed Philip Willis Tone to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 1974.

Was Philip Willis Tone appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Philip Willis Tone was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Philip Willis Tone's confirmation vote?

Philip Willis Tone was confirmed by voice vote on May 6, 1974. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Seventh Circuit / Appointed 1974 / Served to 1980

Philip Willis Tone

Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

Appointed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1974 and confirmed by voice vote, Philip Willis Tone was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. He earned a law degree from University of Iowa College of Law in 1948. He previously served on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Opinions & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1923–2001
Appointed by: Richard M. Nixon, 1974
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: University of Iowa 1943 · University of Iowa College of Law 1948
Succeeded: Roger Joseph Kiley
Succeeded by: Richard Allen Posner

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1972	Northern District of Illinois	Nixon (R)	Voice vote
1974	Seventh Circuit succeeded Roger Joseph Kiley	Nixon (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

University of Iowa	A.B.	1943
University of Iowa College of Law	J.D.	1948

Judicial Record

In our data, Tone authored 16 published opinions for the court (1972–1974). Most cited: Williamson v. Hampton Management Company (32 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
1972	Williamson v. Hampton Management Company	339 F. Supp. 1146	32
1972	Bitang v. REGIONAL MANPOWER ADMIN. OF US DEPT. OF LABOR	351 F. Supp. 1342	22
1972	Kroll v. Cities Service Oil Company	352 F. Supp. 357	18
1973	Green & White Construction Co. v. Cormat Construction Co.	361 F. Supp. 125	17
1972	Hoellen v. Annunzio	348 F. Supp. 305	10
1972	Wood v. COMMONWEALTH EDISON COMPANY	343 F. Supp. 1270	10
1972	United States v. Continental Casualty Company	346 F. Supp. 1239	8
1972	Econ, Inc. v. Illinois Bell Telephone Company	351 F. Supp. 1087	7
1972	Puerto Rican Organization for Political Action v. Kusper	350 F. Supp. 606	7
1972	Packard Instrument Co., Inc. v. Beckman Instruments, Inc.	346 F. Supp. 408	7
1974	Stevens v. Woodstock, Inc.	372 F. Supp. 654	6
1973	United States v. Langford	369 F. Supp. 1107	5
1973	United States v. Hedgeman	368 F. Supp. 585	4
1973	Brennan v. Local 3911, United Steelworkers of America	372 F. Supp. 961	3
1972	Morales v. Haines	349 F. Supp. 684	2

Showing the 15 most-cited of 16 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 Philip Willis Tone?: President Richard M. Nixon appointed Philip Willis Tone to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 1974.
Was Philip Willis Tone appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Philip Willis Tone was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Philip Willis Tone's confirmation vote?: Philip Willis Tone was confirmed by voice vote on May 6, 1974. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Philip Willis Tone on?: Philip Willis Tone was a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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5 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).