John Robert Brown (December 10, 1909 – January 23, 1993) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in 1950s and 1960s, one of the "Fifth Circuit Four" pivotal in the civil rights movement.
John Robert Brown
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
Chief Judge — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Born 1909 in Funk, NE
Died 1993 in Houston, TX
FJC ID: 285
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 66/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 1,202/year
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals · 1955–1993
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
- Judicial Conference of the United StatesMember · 1967–1979
- Private practice, Houston and Galveston, Texas1932–1955
U.S. Army major1942–1946
Appointments
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth CircuitChief Judge1955–1993 · Appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican)Term ended: Death
Education
J.D. · 1932- University of NebraskaA.B. · 1930