He was a law clerk for Judge Learned Hand of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1930 to 1931.
His service was terminated on July 7, 1976, due to his death of a heart attack in Aspen, Colorado, while attending a judicial seminar.
The most prominent of these arose from abuses at the Willowbrook State School on Staten Island, involving what Judd described as "inhumane and shocking conditions" at the institution.
[3] Judd's judicial service is best remembered for his order enjoining the United States from engaging in further bombing of Cambodia during the summer of 1973.
A manuscript collection of Judd's legal and judicial papers is held at the Harvard Law School Library and open for research.