• Source: List of first minority male lawyers and judges in the United States

This is a list of the first minority male lawyer(s) and judge(s) in each state. It includes the year in which the men were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are other distinctions such as the first minority men in their state to graduate from law school.




Firsts nationwide






= Law school

=
First African American male law graduate: George Lewis Ruffin (1869)
First African American male to enroll and graduate from a state-supported law school: Walter Raleigh Jones in 1874
First Chinese male to seek an American legal education: Sit Ming Cook (he was denied admission to a law school around 1878)
First Chinese male to graduate from an American law school: Hong Yen Chang (1888) (c. 1886)
First blind male law graduate: Josiah McIntyre (1889)
First Filipino American law graduate: Gonzalo Manibog (1917)
One of the first Cape Verdean-born Americans to graduate with a J.D.: Alfred J. Gomes (1923)
First Navajo male law graduate: Thomas Dodge (1924)
First African American male to enroll in a predominantly-White Southern university since the Reconstruction era: Silas Herbert Hunt (1948)
First Potawatomi male: Jeff Crawford




= Lawyers

=
First Jewish American male lawyers: Moses Levy (1778) and Zalegman Phillips (1779)
First Native American (Choctaw) male lawyer: James McDonald (c. 1820s)
First African American male lawyers: Moses Simons (1816) and Macon Bolling Allen (1844)
First African American male lawyer to win a jury trial: Robert Morris (1847) in 1848
First male lawyer of Czech descent: Augustin Haidusek (c. 1870)
First African American male lawyer called to the English Bar: Thomas Morris Chester (1870)
First deaf male lawyer: Joseph G. Parkinson (1880)
First Turkish American male lawyer: James Ben Ali Haggin (c. 1880s)
First Chinese male lawyer: Hong Yen Chang (1888)
First Native American (Creek people) male admitted to practice before the federal courts: Albert Gallatin "Cheesie" McIntosh (1889) during the early 1900s
First Japanese American male lawyer: Masuji Miyakawa (1905)
First Filipino male admitted to an American bar association: Ponciano Reyes (1907)
First African American deaf male lawyer: Roger Demosthenes O'Kelly (1908)
First Filipino male admitted to practice before the federal courts of the U.S.: Mariona Ylano (1915)
First Filipino American male lawyer: Pablo Manlapit (1919)
First Korean American male lawyer: Herbert Choy (1941)
First blind male lawyer: Leonard Staisey (c. 1950)
First African American male lawyer in the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division: Thelton Henderson (1962)
First openly gay male lawyer: Harris L. Kimball
First Hmong American male lawyer: Christopher Thang Tao (c. 1986)
First Nepali American male lawyer: Khagendra Gharti-Chhetry (1987)
First U.S.-educated Uyghur American male lawyer: Nury Turkel (c. 1990s)
First undocumented immigrant male admitted to practice law in the U.S.: Sergio C. Garcia (2014)



Lawyers and the U.S. Supreme Court

First Native American male to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court: Elias Cornelius Boudinot (1856) during the 1860s
First African American male to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court: John Rock (1861) in 1865
First African American male to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Samuel R. Lowery (1874) in 1880
First Native American (Omaha people) male to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Thomas L. Sloan (1892) in 1904
First Chinese American male to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court: You Chung Hong (1923) in 1933
First African American male to argue and win a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Charles Hamilton Houston (1924)
First visually-impaired male admitted to practice before the U.S Supreme Court: N. Neal Pike around 1937
First Latino American male to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Manuel Ruiz (1930) in 1952
First Asian American to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Benjamim Gim (c. 1949) in 1957
First Arab male to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court: Taher Helmy in 1979
First deaf male to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Michael A. Chatoff (c. 1960s) in 1982
First Native American (Gila River Indian Community) male to win a U.S. Supreme Court case: Rodney B. Lewis (1972) in (1980)
First openly gay male to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: John Ward in 1995
First male with cerebral palsy to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Randall M. Howe at around 2006
First undocumented male to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Luis Cortes Romero in 2019




= Law clerks

=
See Lists of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States




= State judges

=
First Jewish American male judges: Daniel Nunez (1722) and Issac Miranda (1727)
First African American male justice of the peace: Wentworth Cheswell (1805)
First African American male judge: Macon Bolling Allen (1844) in 1847
First African American male elected as a county judge in the South since Reconstruction: James Dean (1884) in 1888
First Chinese American male judge: William "Billy" Heen in 1917
First Portuguese American male judge: Frank M. Silvia in 1920
First African American male judge in the South since Reconstruction: Lawson E. Thomas (1923) in 1950
First Asian Indian-American elected male judge: Dalip Singh Saund in 1950
First Japanese American male judge in the contiguous U.S.: John Aiso (1941) in 1952
First Greek American male judge: James K. Chelos in 1952
First Chinese American male judge in the contiguous U.S.: Delbert E. Wong (1948) in 1959
First Syrian Lebanese American male judge: Elias Shamon during the 1960s
First openly gay male judge: Stephen Lachs (1963) in 1979
First African American male elected as a probate judge: William McKinley Branch in 1970
First Filipino American male judge: Mel Red Recana (1974) in 1981
First Muslim American male judge: Adam Shakoor in 1981
First Cuban American male to serve as an appellate court judge: Mario Goderich in 1990
First Samoan American male family court judge: Bode Uale in 1991
First Haitian American male: Jacques Leroy in 1994
First African American male to preside over an American courtroom television show: Joe Brown in 1998
First openly gay male to preside over an American courtroom television show: David Young in 2007
First Hmong American male judge: Paul C. Lo (1994) in 2013
First Zoroastrian male judge: Firdaus Dordi in 2017
First openly bisexual male judge: Mike Jacobs in 2018
First Palestinian American male judge: Abdel Majid Abdel Hadi in 2019
First Burmese American male judge: Bryant Y. Yang in 2020
First Yemeni American male judge: Rashad Hauter in 2021
First openly transgender male judge: Seth Marnin in 2023



State supreme courts

First Jewish American male (chief justice): Henry A. Lyons in 1852 [resigned the same year]
First Jewish American male (to serve a prolonged tenure as chief justice): Franklin J. Moses Sr. from 1868-1877
First African American male: Jonathan Jasper Wright (1865) in 1870
First Hispanic American male (chief justice): Eugene D. Lujan in 1951
First Japanese American male: Masaji Marumoto in 1956
First Japanese American male (chief justice): Wilfred Tsukiyama (c. 1924) in 1959
First Chinese American (and Native Hawaiian) male (chief Justice): William S. Richardson in 1966
First Filipino American male: Ben Menor in 1974
First African American male (chief justice): Robert N. C. Nix Jr. (c. 1954) in 1984
First Native American male (chief justice): Jean A. Turnage in 1984
First Puerto Rican male (chief justice): Luis D. Rovira in 1990
First Korean American male (justice and chief justice): Ronald Moon in 1990 and 1993 respectively
First blind male (who was also Jewish): Richard B. Teitelman (1973) in 2002
First openly gay male: Rives Kistler (1981) in 2003




= Federal judges

=
First Jewish American male (federal judge): Jacob Trieber in 1900
First African American male (federal judge): William H. Hastie (1931) in 1937
First Asian American (Chinese) federal judge: Chuck Mau in 1950
First Greek American male (federal judge/chief judge): Thomas Demetrios Lambros in 1967 and 1990 respectively
First Korean American male (federal judge): Herbert Choy (1941) in 1971
First Pacific Islander male (magistrate judge): Richard R. Komo in 1971
First Japanese American male (federal judge): Shiro Kashiwa (1936) in 1972
First African American male (chief judge): William B. Bryant (1939) in 1977
First Chinese American male (federal judge) from the contiguous U.S.: Thomas Tang (1950) in 1977
First Filipino American male (federal judge): Alfred Laureta in 1978
First African American male in the Deep South (federal judge): Robert Frederick Collins in 1978
First Mexican American male (federal judge/U.S. Court of Appeals): Reynaldo Guerra Garza (1939) in 1961 and 1979 respectively
First Cape Verdean male (federal judge): George N. Leighton in 1976
First Puerto Rican male (continental U.S.): José A. Cabranes (1965) in 1979
First Native American male [likely Cherokee Nation] (federal judge): Frank Howell Seay in 1979
First African American male to head a Deep South federal court: James Lopez Watson during the 1980s-1990s
First Armenian American male (federal judge): Dickran Tevrizian (1965) in 1985
First Asian American/Pacific Islander male in the continental U.S. (magistrate judge): George H. King in 1987
First Native American male [Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma] (federal judge): Michael Burrage (1974) in 1994
First Cuban American male (federal judge): Eduardo C. Robreno (1978) in 1992
First Armenian immigrant male (federal judge): Samuel Der-Yeghiayan (1978) in 2003
First Haitian American male (Article III): Raymond Lohier in 2010
First openly gay male (federal judge): Joseph H. Gale in 2011
First openly gay African American male (federal judge): Darrin P. Gayles (1993) in 2014
First Muslim American male (federal judge): Mustafa T. Kasubhai in 2018
First South Asian American male (Article III in the Eleventh Circuit): Anuraag Singhal (1989) in 2019
First Panamanian American male (Article III): Franklin U. Valderrama in 2020
First Muslim American and Pakistani American male (Article III): Zahid Quraishi in 2021



Federal District court

First African American male: James Benton Parsons (1949) in 1961
First Chinese American male: Dick Yin Wong (1950) in 1975
First blind male: Richard C. Casey (1958) in 1997
First Armenian immigrant male: Samuel Der-Yeghiayan in 2003
First South Asian American male: Amul Thapar (1994) in 2007
First Asian American male outside of the Ninth Circuit: Denny Chin (1978) in 2010
First openly gay male: J. Paul Oetken (1991) in 2011



U.S. Court of Federal Claims

First Latino American male: Armando Bonilla in 2021



Federal Circuit Court

First Chinese American male: Chuck Mau in 1950
First Filipino American male: Ben Menor in 1968
First Latino American male (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit): Arthur Alarcón in 1979
First Latino American male (United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit): Julio M. Fuentes (1975) in 2000
First openly gay male: Todd M. Hughes (1992) in 2013



Bankruptcy Court

First African American male: Harry G. Hackett in 1954
First Asian American/Pacific Islander male: Jon Chinen in 1976
First Asian American male (of Chinese descent): Robert Kwan in 2007



U.S. Customs Court

First African American male: Irvin Charles Mollison (1923) in 1945



U.S. Tax Court

First Asian American (Chinese) male: Chuck Mau in 1948
First Latino American male: Juan F. Vasquez in 1995
First African American male: Maurice B. Foley in 1995



U.S. Court of Appeals

First Jewish American male: Julian Mack in 1911
First Mexican American male:Reynaldo Guerra Garza (1939) in 1979
First African American male (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit): Wade H. McCree (1948) in 1966
First Japanese American male: A. Wallace Tashima (1961) in 1995
First blind male: David S. Tatel (1966) in 1994
First African American male (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit): Roger Gregory (1978) in 2000
First South Asian American male: Sri Srinivasan (1995) in 2013
First Asian American male (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit): James C. Ho in 2018



U.S. Supreme Court

First Jewish American male: Louis Brandeis (1878) in 1916
First African American male: Thurgood Marshall (1933) in 1967



Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army

First Chinese American male: John Fugh (1960) from 1991-1993



U.S. Military

First Asian American male (Chief Judge; United States Armed Forces): Benes Z. Aldana in 2016




= Attorneys General of the U.S.

=
See United States Attorney General




= Deputy Attorney General of the U.S.

=
First African American male: Eric Holder (1976) from 1997-2001




= Associate Attorney General of the U.S.

=
First African American male: Wayne Budd from 1992-1993




= Deputy Associate Attorney General of the U.S.

=
First Chinese American male: Nelson Dong (1974) from 1979-1980




= Assistant Attorney General of the U.S.

=
First African American male: William H. Lewis (c. 1890s) in 1910



Civil Rights Division

First Asian American male: Bill Lann Lee from 1997-2001
First Latino American male: R. Alexander Acosta from 2003-2005
First immigrant and Korean American male: Wan J. Kim from 2005-2007




= Special Assistant to the U.S. Attorney General

=
First Chinese American male: Nelson Dong (1974) from 1978-1979




= Solicitor General of the U.S.

=
First Jewish American male: Philip Perlman in 1947
First African American male: Thurgood Marshall (1933) in 1965
First Asian American male: Noel Francisco (1996) in 2017




= State Attorney Generals

=
First African American male: Edward Brooke (1948) in 1962
First Native American male: Larry Echo Hawk in 1991
First Sikh American male: Gurbir Grewal (1999) in 2018




= State Deputy Attorney General

=
First Chinese American male: Chuck Mau around 1936




= United States Attorneys

=
First African American male: Cecil F. Poole (1939) in 1961
First African American male in the South since Reconstruction Mickey Michaux (1964) in 1977
First Native American male (Sioux Indian): Terry L. Pechota (1972) from 1979-1981
First Chinese American male: Norman Bay (1986) from 2000-2001
First Armenian American male: Richard S. Hartunian in 2010
First Korean American male: B.J. Pak from 2017-2021




= State District Attorney (Prosecuting Attorney)

=
First African American male: Percy J. Langster in 1948




= State Assistant District Attorney

=
First blind male: Leonard Staisey (1948) in 1950




= State County Attorney

=
First Korean American male: John C. Choi (1995) in 2011




= State Public Defender

=
First Hispanic American male: Carlos J. Martinez in 2008




= American Bar/Federal Bar Association (Presidents, Member, or Officer)

=
First African American male nominated since 1912 (Member - ABA): James S. Watson in 1943
First African American male (Member - FBA): Louis Rothschild Mehlinger in 1945
First African American male (President - FBA): J. Clay Smith Jr. in 1980
First Hispanic American male (President - FBA): Russell A. Del Toro in 2001
First Asian American male (Officer - ABA): Marvin S.C. Dang when he became the Secretary in 2023
First Native American (Pawnee) male to lead a national non-minority bar association (FBA): Lawrence R. Baca in 2009
See also List of presidents of the American Bar Association




= State Bar Association (Presidents)

=
First African American male: Wayne Budd from 1979-1980
First African American male (elected): John A. Howard from 1981-1982
First openly gay male: Mark Johnson in 1998
First American male of South Asian descent: Rajeev Majumdar in 2019




Firsts in individual states


List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Alabama
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Alaska
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Arizona
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Arkansas
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in California
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Colorado
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Connecticut
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Delaware
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Florida
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Georgia
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Hawaii
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Idaho
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Illinois
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Indiana
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Iowa
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Kansas
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Kentucky
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Louisiana
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Maine
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Maryland
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Massachusetts
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Michigan
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Minnesota
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Mississippi
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Missouri
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Montana
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Nebraska
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Nevada
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in New Hampshire
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in New Jersey
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in New Mexico
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in New York
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in North Carolina
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in North Dakota
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Ohio
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Oklahoma
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Oregon
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Pennsylvania
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Rhode Island
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in South Carolina
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in South Dakota
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Tennessee
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Texas
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Utah
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Vermont
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Virginia
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Washington
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in West Virginia
List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Wisconsin
Wyoming: Plasa L. Turner was an African American male lawyer that appeared in the Wyoming census (1910). His historical significance is unclear.




Firsts in Washington, D.C.


List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Washington D.C.




Firsts in U.S. territories


List of first minority male lawyers and judges in U.S. territories




See also


List of African-American jurists
List of Asian American jurists
List of Hispanic and Latino American jurists
List of Jewish American jurists
List of Native American jurists
List of LGBT jurists in the United States
List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States




References

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in the United States
• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Minnesota
• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Nebraska
• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Nevada
• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Connecticut
• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Missouri
• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Colorado
• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Hawaii
• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Tennessee
• List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Massachusetts