Harry Thomas Edwards (born November 3, 1940) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He is also a professor of law at the New York University School of Law. Edwards was appointed to the D.C. Circuit in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter and served as its chief judge from 1994 to 2001. He assumed senior status in 2005.
Harry Thomas Edwards
District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals
Chief Judge — U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
Born 1940 in New York, NY
FJC ID: 692
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 28/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 794/year
District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals · 1980–District of Columbia District Court · 1980–2005
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.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- African American
Prior employment
- Judicial Conference of the United StatesMember · 1994–2001
Professor of law · 1970–1975, 1977–1980- Labor arbitrator1971–1980
- National Railroad Passenger CorporationChairman of the board · 1978–1980
Professor of law · 1975–1977- Private practice, Chicago, Illinois1965–1970
Appointments
1980–2005 · Appointed by Jimmy Carter (Democratic)
1980–2005
Education
- J.D. · 1965
- Cornell UniversityB.S. · 1962