Asa Palmer French was an American attorney who served as the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts from 1906 to 1914.

French was born on January 29, 1860. His father was a Commissioner of the Court of Alabama Claims. In 1892 French graduated from Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

.

From 1901 to 1906 French was the District Attorney for the Southeastern District of Massachusetts. In 1905 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for Massachusetts Attorney General

Massachusetts Attorney General

The Massachusetts Attorney General is an elected executive officer of the Massachusetts Government. The office of Attorney-General was abolished in 1843 and re-established in 1849. The current Attorney General is Martha Coakley....

. In 1906 he was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

 to serve as the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. He was re-appointed by President William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...

 in 1910 and remained U.S. Attorney until November 1, 1914 when he resigned to enter private practice.

In 1916 he testified before the United States Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 during the confirmation hearings of United States Supreme Court nominee Louis Brandeis

Louis Brandeis

Louis Dembitz Brandeis ; November 13, 1856 – October 5, 1941) was an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1916 to 1939.He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, to Jewish immigrant parents who raised him in a secular mode...

. Of Brandeis, French said: "Mr. Brandeis has, in my experience, the reputation of being a man of integrity, a man of honor, a man who is conscientiously striving for what he believes to be right".

French died on November 17, 1938.