Kirkpatrick was nominated by President Calvin Coolidge on March 3, 1927, to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to a new seat created by 44 Stat. 1347.[2] He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 3, 1927, and received his commission the same day.[2] He served as Chief Judge from 1948 to 1958.[2] He assumed senior status on May 1, 1958.[2] He was the last federal judge in active service to have been appointed to his position by President Coolidge.[a] His service was terminated on November 28, 1970, due to his death in Cumberstone,[3] an unincorporated community in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.[1] Interment was in Christ Church Cemetery in West River, Maryland.[1]
Notable cases
Kirkpatrick is remembered as "one of the unsung heroes of American corporate and securities law,"[4] issuing early but influential decisions in Insurance Shares Corp. v. Northern Fiscal Corp.,[5] which described circumstances in which a corporation's controlling shareholder has a fiduciary duty not to sell the control block to a looter, and Kardon v. National Gypsum Co.,[6] first recognizing an implied private cause of action for Rule 10b-5 violations.
Other service
Kirkpatrick was a trustee to Lafayette College from 1933 to 1961.[7]
^Allen, William T.; Kraakman, Reinier; Subramanian, Guhan (2009), Commentaries and Cases on the Law of Business Organization (3d ed.), Austin, TX: Wolters Kluwer, p. 631 n.19, ISBN978-0-7355-8600-0
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