Henry White Edgerton

Henry White Edgerton (October 20, 1888 – February 23, 1970) was a United States federal judge who served on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Born in Rush Center, Kansas, Edgerton received an A.B. from Cornell University in 1910, and an LL.B. from Harvard Law School in 1914. He then entered private practice as an attorney, first in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1914, and then in Boston from 1915 until 1916. Edgerton was a professor at Cornell Law School from 1916 until 1918, when he returned to private practice in Boston. In 1921, he took a teaching position at the George Washington University Law School until 1928, and then taught at Cornell University until 1937. While at Cornell, Edgerton served as Special Assistant to the United States Attorney General from 1934 until 1935, during Franklin D. Roosevelt's first term as president.

On November 26, 1937, Roosevelt nominated Edgerton to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated by Duncan Lawrence Groner. Edgerton was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 9, 1937, and received his commission on December 15, 1937. Edgerton served as Chief Judge of the court from 1955 until 1958, assuming senior status on April 22, 1963 and serving in that capacity until his death, in Washington, D.C.

References

• Henry White Edgerton at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.