Joseph Buffington

Joseph Buffington was a United States circuit judge who served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 1906 to 1947. Born in Pennsylvania in 1855, he had a lengthy career in the federal judiciary spanning more than five decades, first as a district judge and then as a circuit judge. Appointed to the appellate bench by President Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, Buffington served in active status for more than three decades before assuming senior status in 1938. His judicial career, while marked by longevity, ended under a cloud due to his involvement in a scandal during the 1930s involving a colleague on the court.

Early life and legal career

Joseph Buffington was born on September 5, 1855, in Kittanning, Pennsylvania. He came from a family with connections to the legal profession; his parents were Ephraim and Margaret Chambers (Orr) Buffington, and he was the nephew of another Pennsylvania judge who shared his name. Buffington pursued his undergraduate education at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, where he earned an Artium Baccalaureus degree in 1875. Following his college education, he studied law through the traditional method of reading law, completing this preparation in 1878.

After completing his legal training, Buffington established himself in private practice in his hometown of Kittanning, where he practiced law for fourteen years, from 1878 to 1892. This period of private practice provided him with the foundation of legal experience that would later support his judicial career. On January 29, 1885, during his years in private practice, he married Mary Alice Simonton, who was from Emmitsburg, Maryland. His time in private practice came to an end when he received his first federal judicial appointment in the early 1890s.

Federal appellate service

Buffington's federal judicial career began at the district court level. President Benjamin Harrison nominated him to serve as a United States district judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The nomination came on February 10, 1892, to fill a vacancy that had been created by Judge James Hay Reed. The Senate moved quickly on the nomination, confirming Buffington on February 23, 1892, and he received his commission on the same day. He served in this district court position for more than fourteen years, until September 26, 1906, when his service at that level terminated due to his elevation to a higher court.

Buffington's appointment to the circuit court came through President Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican. Roosevelt initially gave Buffington a recess appointment on September 25, 1906, to a joint seat on both the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the United States Circuit Courts for the Third Circuit. This seat had been vacated by Judge Marcus W. Acheson. When Congress returned to session, President Roosevelt formally nominated Buffington to the same position on December 3, 1906. The Senate confirmed the nomination on December 11, 1906, and Buffington received his commission that same day, regularizing his appointment.

During the early years of Buffington's service on the Third Circuit, the federal court system still maintained the old Circuit Courts as separate entities from the Courts of Appeals. However, on December 31, 1911, Congress abolished the Circuit Courts, and from that point forward Buffington served exclusively on the Court of Appeals. He continued in active service on the appellate court for many years, becoming one of the longest-serving judges on the federal bench.

From 1922 to 1937, Buffington served as a member of the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges, which later became known as the Judicial Conference of the United States. This body plays an important role in the administration and policy-making of the federal court system. Buffington's lengthy tenure meant that he held the distinction of being the last appeals court judge in active service who had been appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt, a testament to both his longevity and the length of time that had passed since Roosevelt's presidency.

Buffington's active service came to an end on June 1, 1938, when he assumed senior status, a form of semi-retirement that allows federal judges to continue serving with a reduced caseload. He remained in senior status until his death on October 21, 1947, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, bringing to a close a federal judicial career that had lasted fifty-five years.

Jurisprudence and legacy

The final years of Buffington's active judicial service were marred by a significant scandal that emerged during the 1930s. The controversy involved his colleague on the Court of Appeals, Judge John Warren Davis. An investigation revealed that Davis had been receiving bribes in connection with certain cases, and that Buffington had been signing opinions that Davis had drafted in these tainted cases. The extent of Buffington's knowledge of or participation in the corrupt scheme was never fully established through formal proceedings.

While Davis was forced to leave the bench as a result of the scandal, no formal disciplinary action was taken against Buffington himself. Contemporary accounts described Buffington at that time as being "aged, senile, and nearly blind," suggesting that his faculties had deteriorated significantly and that he may not have been fully aware of the impropriety of the arrangement. The scandal appears to have precipitated his decision to assume senior status in 1938, effectively ending his participation in deciding cases even though he technically remained on the court until his death.

After taking senior status, Buffington ceased hearing cases entirely, spending the final nine years of his life in retirement from active judicial duties. The scandal involving Davis and Buffington highlighted problems that could arise from judges remaining on the bench past the point where they could effectively fulfill their duties, an issue that has continued to generate discussion in debates about federal judicial administration. Buffington died in 1947 at the age of ninety-two, having lived through nearly a century of American legal and social history.