Peter T. Fay


Peter Thorpe Fay is an American lawyer and Senior United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and previously was a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Education and career

Fay was born on January 18, 1929 in Rochester, New York. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1951 from Rollins College. He served in the United States Air Force as a lieutenant from 1951 to 1953 before attending the Fredric G. Levin College of Law at the University of Florida, where he received his Juris Doctor in 1956. Fay was in private practice in Miami, Florida from 1956 to 1970. Fay practiced at Patton & Kanner in 1956, Nichols, Gaither, Green, Frates & Beckham from 1956 to 1961, and Frates, Fay, Floyd & Pearson from 1961 to 1970.

Federal judicial service

nominated Fay to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida on October 7, 1970, to a new seat created by 84 Stat. 294. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 13, 1970 and received his commission three days later. His service terminated on October 8, 1976, due to elevation to the Fifth Circuit.
President Gerald Ford nominated Fay to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on June 11, 1976, to the seat vacated by Judge David W. Dyer. He was confirmed by the Senate on September 17, 1976 and received his commission four days later. Fay was reassigned to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, to a new seat authorized by 94 Stat. 1994, on October 1, 1981 by operation of law. He assumed senior status on January 19, 1994.
On February 14, 2015, it was revealed in a New York Times article that potential Republican Party 2016 presidential candidate Jeb Bush lobbied his father, President George H. W. Bush in letter sent August 7, 1989, to appoint Fay to the Supreme Court of the United States.