List of federal judges appointed by George H. W. Bush

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Following is a list of all Article III United States federal judges appointed by President George H. W. Bush during his presidency. All information is derived from the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public-domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center. In total Bush appointed 193 Article III federal judges, including two Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States, 42 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, 148 judges to the United States district courts and one judge to the United States Court of International Trade.

Additionally, eight Article I federal judicial appointments are listed, six to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and two to the United States Court of Federal Claims. Other Article I appointments by President Bush are not listed.

Eleven of Bush’s appointees remain in active service in the roles to which Bush appointed them: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, five appeals court judges and five district court judges. One district judge and one appellate judge remain in active service on the Supreme Court by appointment of later presidents.

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  David Souter was Bush's first Supreme Court appointment, having first been appointed by Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
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  Bush appointed Clarence Thomas to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and then elevated him to the Supreme Court.
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  Samuel Alito, appointed by Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, was later elevated to the Supreme Court.

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  Bush appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York; Sotomayor was later elevated to the Second Circuit, and then to the Supreme Court.
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  Bush named Louis Freeh to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, where Freeh sat for two years before becoming Director of the FBI.
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  Vaughn Walker, appointed by Bush to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and would later be revealed to be the earliest known gay federal judge.^[1]