Collins J. Seitz

Collins J. Seitz
Senior Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
In office
June 1, 1989 – October 16, 1998
Presiding Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review
In office
March 19, 1987 – March 18, 1994
Appointed byWilliam Rehnquist
Preceded byA. Leon Higginbotham Jr.
Succeeded byPaul Hitch Roney
Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
In office
May 31, 1971 – June 20, 1984
Preceded byWilliam H. Hastie
Succeeded byRuggero J. Aldisert
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
In office
June 9, 1966 – June 1, 1989
Appointed byLyndon B. Johnson
Preceded byJohn Biggs Jr.
Succeeded byJane Richards Roth
Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery
In office
June 1951 – June 17, 1966
Appointed byElbert N. Carvel
Preceded byDaniel F. Wolcott
Succeeded byWilliam Duffy
Vice Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery
In office
February 1, 1946 – June 1951
Appointed byWilliam W. Harrington
Preceded byGeorge B. Pearson Jr.
Succeeded byHoward W. Bramhall
Personal details
BornCollins Jacques Seitz
(1914-06-20)June 20, 1914
DiedOctober 16, 1998(1998-10-16) (aged 84)
Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.
Spouse
Virginia Day
(m. 1955)
RelationsJohn F. R. Seitz (brother)
Children4, including Virginia and Collins Jr.
EducationUniversity of Delaware (AB)
University of Virginia School of Law (LLB)
AwardsPresidential Citizens Medal (2025)
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with deprecated parameter "honorific-prefix". Replace with "honorific_prefix".

Collins Jacques Seitz (June 20, 1914 – October 16, 1998) was an American judge and lawyer from Wilmington, Delaware. He was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from 1966 to 1998, and was its chief judge from 1971 to 1984. He also served as the presiding judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review from 1987 to 1994.

Seitz had previously served on the Delaware Court of Chancery, where he presided over the 1952 case Gebhart v. Belton, and ruled that the racial segregation of Delaware's public schools was unconstitutional. The case was one of several that led to the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education two years later.