Thomas Walter Swan

Thomas Walter Swan (December 20, 1877 – July 13, 1975) was a circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Education and career

Born in Norwich, Connecticut Swan received an B.A. degree from Yale University in 1900. He graduated as a Bachelor of Laws from Harvard Law School in 1903. He was in private practice of law in Chicago, Illinois from 1903 to 1916. He was a lecturer in law at the University of Chicago from 1903 to 1904, and in 1908. He was Dean and Professor of Law at Yale Law School from 1916 to 1927.

Federal judicial service

Swan was nominated by President Calvin Coolidge to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated by Judge Henry Wade Rogers. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 22, 1926, and served as Chief Judge and as a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 1951 to 1953. He assumed senior status on July 1, 1953.

Swan died on July 13, 1975 at his home in New Haven, Connecticut at the age of 97.

Notable decisions as sitting judge

Nichols v. Universal Pictures Corp. - 1930 United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries - 1936 United States v. Peoni - 1938 Kenan v. Commissioner - 1940 United States v. Crimmins - 1941 United States v. Alcoa - 1945 Farid-Es-Sultaneh v. Commissioner - 1947 United States v. Drescher - 1950 American Communications Ass'n v. Douds - 1950 Wilko v. Swan - 1953 Stanton v. United States - 1959