Records & Rankings

Longest-serving active federal judges

Who is the longest-serving active federal judge?

Gerald Bard Tjoflat is the longest-serving federal judge still on the bench: 55 years since first commission.

Currently serving Article III judges ranked by years since their first federal commission (active or on senior status: senior judges still hear cases).

#	Name	Detail	Years
1	Gerald Bard Tjoflat	Eleventh Circuit · first commissioned 1970	55
2	John Clifford Wallace	Ninth Circuit · first commissioned 1970	55
3	Levin Hicks Campbell	First Circuit · first commissioned 1971	54
4	Jon Ormond Newman	Second Circuit · first commissioned 1971	54
5	Victor E. Bianchini	Northern District of New York · first commissioned 1974	52
6	John L. Weinberg	Western District of Washington · first commissioned 1973	52
7	Donald Douglas Alsop	District of Minnesota · first commissioned 1974	51
8	James Sickel	Eastern District of Wisconsin · first commissioned 1975	51
9	J. Gergory Wehrman	Western District of New York · first commissioned 1975	51
10	James C. England	Western District of Missouri · first commissioned 1976	50
11	Charles Sherman Haight Jr.	Southern District of New York · first commissioned 1976	50
12	Patrick Errol Higginbotham	Fifth Circuit · first commissioned 1975	50
13	Eugene Edward Siler Jr.	Sixth Circuit · first commissioned 1975	50
14	W. Eugene Davis	Fifth Circuit · first commissioned 1976	49
15	David D. Noce	Eastern District of Missouri · first commissioned 1976	49
16	Edward Louis Filippine	Eastern District of Missouri · first commissioned 1977	48
17	John L. Kane Jr.	District of Colorado · first commissioned 1977	48
18	Pierre Nelson Leval	Second Circuit · first commissioned 1977	48
19	Robert L. Buchanan Jr.	District of South Carolina · first commissioned 1979	47
20	Jose Alejandro Gonzalez Jr.	Southern District of Florida · first commissioned 1978	47
21	Aaron E. Goodstein	Western District of Wisconsin · first commissioned 1979	47
22	Amalya Lyle Kearse	Second Circuit · first commissioned 1979	47
23	Thomas P. Smith	District of Connecticut · first commissioned 1979	47
24	Thomas G. Wilson	Middle District of Florida · first commissioned 1979	47
25	Robert Lanier Anderson III	Eleventh Circuit · first commissioned 1979	46

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Computed from the FJC Biographical Directory. Data last verified 2026-07-27. Verify against the primary source before relying.