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 See Law school in the United States

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)Although Simons preceded Allen, his career was cut short due to a damaged reputation. As a result, Simons only practiced law for four years before his death in 1822. 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 male lawyer of Croat descent: Anthony Lucas (1906) First Filipino male admitted to an American bar association: Ponciano Reyes (1907)It is uncertain if Reyes worked as a lawyer in the United States or returned soon after to practice law in the Philippines. 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)According to the cited source, Ylano planned on returning to the Philippines to practice law. First Filipino American male lawyer: Pablo Manlapit (1919) First Latino American male lawyer: Dennis Chávez (1920) First Navajo male lawyer: Thomas Dodge (1924) First Korean American male lawyer: Herbert Choy (1941) First African American male lawyer (U.S. Department of Justice): Martin A. Martin in 1943The Century Voice. (Yazoo City, MS) 1 Jun. 1943, p. 1. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn88067172/1943-06-01/ed-1/. First blind male lawyer: Leonard Staisey (c. 1950) First Persian American male lawyer: Manoucher Farzan (1954) 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 African American male lawyer in the U.S. Coast Guard: Samuel E. Burton in 1974 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 admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court: Elias Cornelius Boudinot (1856) during the 1860s First African American male admitted 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 African American male from any western state to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: William Henry Twine in 1898 First Native American (Omaha people) male to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Thomas L. Sloan (1892) in 1904 First Greek American male admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court: Soterios Nicholson in 1917 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 Sikh male lawyer to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court: Tejinder Singh in 2014 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 Cheswill (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 Italy-born male judge: John Palmieri in 1904 First Chinese American male judge: William "Billy" Heen in 1917 First Portuguese American male judge: Frank M. Silvia in 1920 First Greek American male judge: John C. Pappas in 1935 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 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 African American male to head a state level court system: Theodore R. Newman Jr. in 1976 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 1990Staff, H. (1990, January 6). CUBAN AMERICAN 1ST TO JOIN APPEAL BENCH. <em>Miami Herald, The (FL)</em>, p. 3B. Available from NewsBank: Access World News: https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWNB&docref=news/0EB33F7A286ECAB5. 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 1998Star Jones, Esq. became the first African American (female) to preside over a court television show in 1994. However, she was not an actual judicial officer when compared to Brown. He served as a criminal judge for the State Criminal Court of Shelby County, Tennessee. First Lebanese-born male judge: James A. Kaddo in 1998 First openly gay male to preside over an American courtroom television show: David Young in 2007Young served as a Judge of the Circuit Court of Miami Dade County in Florida before resigning in 2007 to commit to the show. He was reelected to the judicial position in 2016. 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 2018Jacobs has been serving as a judge in DeKalb County, Georgia since 2015. First Palestinian American male judge: Abdel Majid Abdel Hadi in 2019 First Burmese American male judge: Bryant Y. Yang in 2020Yang has been serving as a judge in Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2020. First Yemeni American male judge: Rashad Hauter in 2021 First openly transgender male judge: Seth Marnin in 2023 First turbaned Sikh male judge: Raj Singh Badesha in 2024

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 Native American male (chief justice): Napoleon B. Johnson in 1953 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 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 South Asian American male: Amul Thapar (1994) in 2007