J. Edward Lumbard

Joseph Edward Lumbard (August 18, 1901 - June 3, 1999) was a longtime federal appellate judge in the United States.

Lumbard was born in New York City. He was briefly expelled from Harvard as an undergraduate by its anti-homosexual "Secret Court" of 1920, but was readmitted in 1921. (Though evidence did not exist that Lumbard himself was homosexual, the "court" found that he had been "too closely connected" with those "guilty" of homosexuality.)Wright, William. "Harvard's Secret Court: The Savage 1920 Purge of Campus Homosexuals". New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 2005. ISBN 0312322712 ( [http://books.google.com/books?id=nfFTe43fPmwC Google Print] )] He graduated from Harvard and Harvard Law School; for a time, he also attended Fordham Law School. During the 1920's and 1930's, Lumbard served several stints as an Assistant United States Attorney in New York as well as a Special Assistant Attorney General of New York. He then spent two decades as a lawyer in private practice in Manhattan. From 1953 to 1955, Lumbard served under President Dwight D. Eisenhower as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Despite a productive and successful legal career, Lumbard's youthful entanglement with the Secret Court would continue to impact his professional life. Harvard twice divulged the court's findings regarding Lumbard when he was under consideration for federal appointment.

In 1955, President Eisenhower nominated Lumbard as a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, headquartered in New York. Lumbard served as an active judge for 16 years, including 12 years (1959-71) as Chief Judge. Lumbard took senior status in 1971, continuing to hear cases on a reduced schedule; during these years, he also frequently served by designation hearing cases as a judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Lumbard died in 1999. His chamber papers are archived at Harvard Law School, but have not yet been processed and opened for research.

External links

* [http://air.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=1437 Bio from the Federal Judicial Center]