{{Short description|American judge (1855–1947)}} {{About|the Pennsylvania federal judge|the Pennsylvania Congressman and state court judge|Joseph Buffington (congressman)}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Joseph Buffington | honorific_suffix = | image = Judge Buffington LCCN2014685920 (2) (cropped).jpg | alt = | caption = Joseph Buffington (1901) | office = Senior Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit | term_start = June 1, 1938 | term_end = October 21, 1947 | office1 = Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit | term_start1 = September 25, 1906 | term_end1 = June 1, 1938 | nominator1 = | appointer1 = Theodore Roosevelt | predecessor1 = Marcus W. Acheson | successor1 = Francis Biddle | office2 = Judge of the United States Circuit Courts for the Third Circuit | term_start2 = September 25, 1906 | term_end2 = December 31, 1911 | nominator2 = | appointer2 = Theodore Roosevelt | predecessor2 = Marcus W. Acheson | successor2 = ''Seat abolished'' | office3 = Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania | term_start3 = February 23, 1892 | term_end3 = September 26, 1906 | nominator3 = | appointer3 = Benjamin Harrison | predecessor3 = James Hay Reed | successor3 = Nathaniel Ewing | pronunciation = | birth_name = Joseph Buffington | birth_date = {{Birth date|1855|09|05}} | birth_place = Kittanning, Pennsylvania | death_date = {{Death date and age|1947|10|21|1855|09|05}} | death_place = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | citizenship = | party = | other_party = | height = | spouse = | partner = | relations = | children = | parents = | mother = | father = | relatives = | education = Trinity College (AB)<br>read law | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = | known_for = | salary = | net_worth = | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | website = <!--Embedded templates / Footnotes--> | footnotes = }} '''Joseph Buffington''' (September 5, 1855 – October 21, 1947) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and of the United States Circuit Courts for the Third Circuit and previously was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
==Education and career==
Born on September 5, 1855, in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, Buffington received an Artium Baccalaureus degree in 1875 from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and read law in 1878. He entered private practice in Kittanning from 1878 to 1892.<ref name="auto">{{FJC Bio|313|nid=1378531|name=Joseph Buffington<!--(1855–1947)-->}}</ref>
==Federal judicial service==
Buffington was nominated by President Benjamin Harrison on February 10, 1892, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania vacated by Judge James Hay Reed. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 23, 1892, and received his commission the same day. His service terminated on September 26, 1906, due to his elevation to the Third Circuit.<ref name="auto"/>
Buffington received a recess appointment from President Theodore Roosevelt on September 25, 1906, to a joint seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the United States Circuit Courts for the Third Circuit vacated by Judge Marcus W. Acheson. He was nominated to the same position by President Roosevelt on December 3, 1906. He was confirmed by the Senate on December 11, 1906, and received his commission the same day. On December 31, 1911, the Circuit Courts were abolished and he thereafter served only on the Court of Appeals. He was a member of the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges (now the Judicial Conference of the United States) from 1922 to 1937. He was the last appeals court judge who continued to serve in active service appointed by President Roosevelt. He assumed senior status on June 1, 1938. His service terminated on October 21, 1947, due to his death in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.<ref name="auto"/>
===Scandal===
During the 1930s, Buffington became involved in a scandal involving his colleague on the Court of Appeals, Judge John Warren Davis. Buffington was found to have been signing opinions drafted by Davis, in cases in which Davis received bribes. Davis was forced out of office, but no formal action was taken against Buffington, who was described as being "aged, senile, and nearly blind" by that time. He took what is now called senior status, a form of semi-retirement, on June 1, 1938, and ceased hearing cases.<ref>[https://www.fjc.gov] | Why Judges Resign: Influences on Federal Judicial Service, 1789 to 1992 | Emily Field Van Tassel | With Beverly Hudson Wirtz and Peter Wonders | Federal Judicial History Office | Federal Judicial Center | 1993 | [https://www.fjc.gov/sites/default/files/2012/judgeres.pdf]</ref>
==Family==
Buffington was the son of Ephraim and Margaret Chambers (Orr) Buffington,<ref name=HPE>George Thornton Fleming, ''History of Pittsburgh and Environs'' (1922), p. 860-61.</ref> and nephew to a well-known Pennsylvania judge of the same name.{{Citation needed|date=March 2019}} On January 29, 1885, he married Mary Alice Simonton, of Emmitsburg, Maryland.<ref name=HPE/>
==See also== * List of United States federal judges by longevity of service
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== * Van Tassel, Emily Field, et al., ''Why Judges Resign: Influences on Federal Judicial Service, 1789 to 1992'' (Federal Judicial Center 1993), p. 23. * [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/buenemeyer-bufford.html The Political Graveyard] * {{FJC Bio|313|nid=1378531|name=Joseph Buffington<!--(1855–1947)-->}}
==External links== * {{Commons category-inline|Joseph Buffington}}
{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=James Hay Reed}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania}}|years=1892–1906}} {{s-aft|after=Nathaniel Ewing}} {{s-bef|rows=2|before=Marcus W. Acheson}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the United States Circuit Courts for the Third Circuit}}|years=1906–1911}} {{s-aft|after=Seat abolished}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit}}|years=1906–1938}} {{s-aft|after=Francis Biddle}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buffington, Joseph}} Category:1855 births Category:1947 deaths Category:People from Kittanning, Pennsylvania Category:Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania Category:Pennsylvania lawyers Category:Pennsylvania state court judges Category:United States federal judges appointed by Benjamin Harrison Category:United States court of appeals judges appointed by Theodore Roosevelt Category:United States federal judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law