He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 4, 1914, and received his commission the same day.

He presided over the 1919 case of John Meintz who, as a German immigrant, had been seen to be disloyal to the United States and was tarred and feathered on August 19, 1918.

Judge Booth, in charging the jury, said that the evidence was overwhelming in support of the contention that Meintz was disloyal and that there was a strong feeling against him in the community.

[2] Booth was nominated by President Calvin Coolidge on March 18, 1925, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, to a new seat authorized by 43 Stat.

[2] His service terminated on July 7, 1944, due to his death of Parkinson's disease in Minneapolis.