Thomas Joseph Meskill Jr. (January 30, 1928 – October 29, 2007) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He previously served as the 82nd governor of Connecticut, as a United States representative from Connecticut, and as the mayor of New Britain, Connecticut. He is noted as having served in all three branches of government and at the local, state and federal levels of government during his career of public service.
Thomas Joseph Meskill
Second Circuit Court of Appeals
Chief Judge — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Born 1928 in New Britain, CT
Died 2007 in Boynton Beach, FL
FJC ID: 1628
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 8/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 388/year
Second Circuit Court of Appeals · 1975–2007
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 · 1992–1993
- ConnecticutGovernor · 1971–1975
- U.S. representative from Connecticut1967–1971
- New Britain, ConnecticutCorporation counsel · 1965–1966
- New Britain, ConnecticutMayor · 1962–1964
- New Britain, ConnecticutAssistant corporation counsel · 1960–1962
- Private practice, New Britain, Connecticut1956–1960
U.S. Air Force first lieutenant1950–1953
Appointments
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second CircuitChief Judge1975–2007 · Appointed by Gerald Ford (Republican)Term ended: Death
Education
J.D. · 1956- Trinity College, Hartford, ConnecticutB.S. · 1950