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Cecil F. Poole

Cecil F. Poole

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Born 1914 in Birmingham, AL

Died 1997 in San Francisco, CA

FJC ID: 1909

Career output and lasting influence

Opinions attributed per year · peak 10/year

California Northern District Court · 1976–1980Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals · 1979–19971976198019902000201020202025100
opinions

Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 288/year

California Northern District Court · 1976–1980Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals · 1979–199719761980199020002010202020252880
citing decisions

California Northern District Court · 1976–1980Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals · 1979–1997

Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.

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Cecil Francis Poole (July 25, 1914 – November 12, 1997) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and a United States Attorney for the Northern District of California. He was the first African American to serve as a United States Attorney (outside of the United States Virgin Islands), the first African American to serve as a Judge of the Northern District of California and the second African American to serve as a Judge of the Ninth Circuit.

Gender
Male
Race
African American

Prior employment

  1. Private practice, San Francisco, California
    1947–1951, 1970–1976
  2. U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California
    1961–1970
  3. University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law
    Professor of law · 1969–1970
  4. Yale Law School
    Fellow in residence · 1970
  5. Gov. Edmund G. Brown, California
    Secretary and legal counsel · 1958–1961
  6. San Francisco, California
    Assistant district attorney and chief superior court deputy · 1951–1958
  7. Golden State University Law School
    Instructor · 1952–1958
  8. Regional Appellate Division, U.S. Office of Price Administration, San Francisco, California
    Chief · 1946–1947
  9. U.S. Army first lieutenant
    1942–1945
  10. Private practice, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
    1940–1942
  11. National Labor Relations Board
    National Labor Relations Board
    Member · 1942

Appointments

  1. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
    1979–1997 · Appointed by Jimmy Carter (Democratic)
    Term ended: Death
  2. California Northern District Court
    1976–1980 · Appointed by Gerald Ford (Republican)
    Term ended: Appointment to Another Judicial Position

Education

  1. Harvard Law School
    LL.M. · 1939
  2. University of Michigan Law School
  3. University of Michigan
    A.B. · 1935