Joe McDonald Ingraham (July 5, 1903 – May 27, 1990) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and previously was a United States District Court Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas Houston Division. In 1967 he presided at the draft-evasion trial of Muhammad Ali, the heavyweight boxing champion. Ali was convicted and sentenced to jail, but the conviction was overturned by the United States Supreme Court.
Joe McDonald Ingraham
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
Born 1903 in Pawnee County, OK
Died 1990 in Houston, TX
FJC ID: 1146
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 10/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 160/year
Texas Southern District Court · 1954–1969Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals · 1969–1990
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
- White
Prior employment
- Private practice, Houston, Texas1935–1942, 1946–1954
Air CorpsU.S. Army · 1942–1946- Private practice, Fort Worth, Texas1928–1935
- Private practice, Stroud, Oklahoma1927–1928
Appointments
1969–1990 · Appointed by Richard M. Nixon (Republican)Term ended: Death
1954–1969 · Appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican)Term ended: Appointment to Another Judicial Position
Education
- National University School of Law (now George Washington University Law School)LL.B. · 1927