Oscar Hirsh Davis

Who was Oscar Hirsh Davis?

Oscar Hirsh Davis was a federal judge on the United States Court of Claims and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Davis was born in New York City, New York to Jacob and Minnie Davis and attended public schools in Mount Vernon, New York. He received an A.B., summa cum laude, from Harvard University in 1934, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. He received an LL.B. from Columbia Law School in 1937. He was in private practice of law in New York City from 1937 to 1939 at Chadbourne, Wallace, Parke & Whiteside and an Attorney in the United States Department of Justice, Claims Division, from 1939 to 1942. During World War II he was an United States Army Air Corps Captain from 1942 to 1946, serving primarily in a legal capacity. For help drafting atomic energy legislation, he was awarded an Army Commendation Medal. Back in peacetime service, he was an Attorney in the United States Department of Justice Civil Division, from 1946 to 1948. He was Second assistant to the United States Solicitor General from 1950 to 1954, and First assistant to the Solicitor General from 1954 to 1962.

Davis was appointed to the United States Court of Claims by President John F. Kennedy in 1962, where he succeeded Judge J. Warren Madden. He was reassigned on October 1, 1982 to the Federal Circuit. Davis's service terminated upon his death in Washington, D.C. on June 19, 1988.