31 articles
Aaron Persky
Aaron Persky, born Michael Aaron Persky, is a former judge of the Superior Court of Santa Clara County, California, recalled by voters in June 2018 after his lenient sentencing of Brock Turner.
Albert B. Fall
Albert B. Fall (1861–1944) was a New Mexico politician who became the first US cabinet member imprisoned for a felony, convicted of bribery in the Teapot Dome scandal.
Andrew Napolitano
Andrew P. Napolitano (born 1950), known as Judge Napolitano, is a retired New Jersey Superior Court judge, former Fox News senior judicial analyst (1997-2021), libertarian author, and host of the YouTube program Judging Freedom.
Barbara Ann Crancer
Barbara Ann Crancer (born 1938), daughter of Jimmy Hoffa and sister of James P. Hoffa, was a St. Louis County associate circuit judge 1992-2008 who sued the Justice Department for the FBI's Hoffa file.
Bruce Doucette
Bruce A. Doucette, a Littleton, Colorado sovereign citizen who styled himself 'Superior Court Judge of the Continental uNited States of America,' ran fake common-law courts and filed bogus liens against officials; convicted of 34 felony counts in 2018 and sentenced to 38 years.
Carol Corrigan
Carol A. Corrigan (born 1948, Stockton, California) is an associate justice of the California Supreme Court, appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger in December 2005 and confirmed January 2006; former Alameda County prosecutor, trial judge, and First District Court of Appeal justice.
David Fleischer (judge)
David Marcel Fleischer is a Houston judge who founded a criminal defense firm in 2004. He is known for his direct YouTube court livestreams.
Frank Caprio
Frank Caprio (1936-2025), chief judge of the Providence, Rhode Island Municipal Court from 1985 to 2023, hosted the nationally syndicated real-court show Caught in Providence and was known as 'the nicest judge in the world.'
Greg Mathis
Greg Mathis (born 1960, Detroit) is a retired Michigan 36th District Court judge and host of Judge Mathis (1999-2023), the Emmy-winning courtroom show; from 2023 he hosts Mathis Court With Judge Mathis.
Hannah Dugan
Hannah C. Dugan, former Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge (Branch 31), convicted December 2025 of felony obstruction for helping Eduardo Flores-Ruiz evade ICE agents at the courthouse; fined $5,000, no prison, July 2026.
James W. Nye
James Warren Nye (1815–1876), "Old Grey Eagle," was the only governor of Nevada Territory (1861–1864), briefly acting state governor, and one of Nevada's first two U.S. senators; Nye County is named for him.
Joe Brown (judge)
Joe Brown, TV judge and former Shelby County, Tennessee criminal court judge (1990-2001), first African American prosecutor for Memphis, hosted the arbitration-based Judge Joe Brown series 1998-2013; distinct from magistrate Joe B. Brown.
John B. Weller
John B. Weller (1812–1875) was an American Jacksonian Democrat from Ohio who served in the House, as US senator and Governor of California, and as Minister to Mexico.
Joseph Force Crater
Joseph Force Crater, known as Judge Crater, was a New York State Supreme Court justice appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt who vanished in Manhattan in August 1930.
Joseph Wapner
Joseph Wapner (1919–2017), Los Angeles County Superior Court judge, first presiding judge of The People's Court (1981–1993, 2,484 episodes), later Judge Wapner's Animal Court, 2009 Hollywood Walk of Fame star.
Juan Merchan
Juan Manuel Merchan is a Colombian-born, Queens-raised acting justice of the New York State Supreme Court (since 2009) who presided over the Trump Organization tax fraud trial, the Weisselberg plea, Steve Bannon's state case, and Trump's 34-count hush-money trial ending in conviction.
Judicial dynasties in U.S. state courts
Judicial dynasties in U.S. state courts are family lineages with two or more related judges on the same court, including the Celebrezze brothers on Ohio's supreme court.
Kids for cash scandal
Kids for cash scandal: Luzerne County, Pennsylvania judicial corruption (2003–2008), in which judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan took $2.8 million in kickbacks for sending thousands of juveniles to for-profit detention centers; convictions vacated, judges imprisoned.
Leondra Kruger
Leondra Reid Kruger, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California since January 2015 (appointed by Jerry Brown); former Solicitor General's office lawyer who argued 12 U.S. Supreme Court cases; 2022 Biden shortlist finalist for the Breyer seat.
Mark Ciavarella
Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., former Luzerne County, Pennsylvania juvenile court judge (1996–2009), convicted in 2011 in the kids-for-cash scandal of racketeering and fraud for $2.8 million in payments tied to for-profit detention centers; serving a 28-year federal sentence.
Matthew Titone
Matthew J. Titone (born 1961) is the Surrogate judge of Richmond County (Staten Island), New York, elected 2019 for a term to 2031; former Assembly District 61 Democrat, St. John's Law 1992, son of Court of Appeals Judge Vito Titone.
Michael Usan
Michael A. Usan is a circuit judge in Florida's Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County, Group 42, elected 2012 and unopposed in 2018, presiding over circuit criminal divisions including the XXXTentacion murder trial.
Nicholas Porter Earp
Nicholas Porter Earp (1813-1907), father of Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan Earp; Mexican War sergeant, Union Army recruiter, wagon-master, and lawman (constable, justice of the peace, city recorder) who led his family from Iowa to San Bernardino in 1864.
Noah Hood
Noah P. Hood is a justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, appointed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer effective May 27, 2025 to fill Elizabeth Clement's seat. A Detroit native and former federal prosecutor, he previously served on the Michigan Court of Appeals and Wayne County's Third Circuit Court, and is the 2026 Democratic nominee for a full term.
Pell Cooper
Pell Carlton Cooper (born 1959) is a North Carolina District Court judge, brother of Governor Roy Cooper, on the bench since 1999 in Nash, Wilson, and Edgecombe counties, and manager of the Will Clark Properties solar-farm LLC.
Roy Bean
Roy Bean (c. 1825–1903), saloonkeeper and justice of the peace at Langtry, Texas, self-styled "Law West of the Pecos," who held court in his Jersey Lilly saloon, never hanged anyone, and became a Texas folk legend.
Roy Moore
Roy Moore (Roy Stewart Moore, born 1947), Alabama chief justice twice disciplined over the Ten Commandments monument and same-sex marriage orders, 2017 Republican Senate nominee, and defamation litigant against Senate Majority PAC.
Sanford B. Dole
Sanford Ballard Dole (1844–1926) was a Hawaiian-born lawyer and judge who led the 1893 overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani and became the first governor of Hawaii Territory.
Sheila Abdus-Salaam
Sheila Abdus-Salaam (born Sheila Turner, 1952-2017) was a New York judge, the first African-American woman on the state Court of Appeals and the first female Muslim judge in the United States.
William Newsom
William Alfred Newsom III (1934–2018) was an American judge on the California Court of Appeal from 1978 to 1995 and the father of California Governor Gavin Newsom.