 In 1987, Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Robert N. C. Nix Jr. appointed Smith Administrative Judge of the Blair County Courts, charging him with responsibility to address that court's chronic backlog.In 1988, President Ronald Reagan, with the advice of Senators Arlen Specter and H. John Heinz III, appointed Smith to the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.He served as Chief Judge from 2001 until his elevation to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.