Albert Branson Maris


Albert Branson Maris was a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and previously was a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Education and career

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Maris received a Bachelor of Laws from the Temple University Beasley School of Law in 1918 and was a private in the United States Army in that year. He was an assistant secretary of the Proportional Representation League in Philadelphia from 1918 to 1919, and was a legal staff member of the Bureau of Municipal Research in Philadelphia in 1919. He was in private practice in Philadelphia from 1919 to 1936, working as an editor of The Legal Intelligencer from 1935 to 1936. He also graduated from the Drexel Institute Engineering School in 1926.

Federal judicial service

Maris was nominated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 18, 1936, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to a new seat authorized by 49 Stat. 1523. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 20, 1936, and received his commission on June 22, 1936. His service terminated on June 16, 1938, upon his confirmation to the Third Circuit, thus he had an eight day break in service.
Maris was nominated by President Roosevelt on June 14, 1938, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit vacated by Judge Victor Baynard Woolley. He was confirmed by the Senate on June 16, 1938, and received his commission on June 24, 1938. He served as a Judge of the Emergency Court of Appeals from 1942 to 1962, serving as Chief Judge from 1943 to 1962. He assumed senior status on December 31, 1958. His service terminated on February 7, 1989, due to his death.

Other service

Maris served as an adjunct professor of law at the Temple University Beasley School of Law from 1941 to 1955.