Philip Nichols, Jr. (August 11, 1907 – January 26, 1990) was a judge on the United States Court of Claims and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Nichols received an A.B. from Harvard University in 1929 and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1932. He was in private practice in Boston, Massachusetts from 1932 to 1938. He was a special attorney of Lands Division, United States Department of Justice from 1938 to 1941, and then a special attorney of the Legal Division, U.S. War Production Board from 1942 to 1944. He was in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946, achieving the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He was an assistant general counsel to the United States Department of the Treasury from 1947 to 1951. He was a general counsel to the Renegotiation Board from 1951 to 1954. He returned to private practice in Washington, D.C. from 1954 to 1961. He was Commissioner of Customs for the Treasury Department from 1961 to 1964.
Nichols was appointed to the United States Customs Court (now the United States Court of International Trade) from 1964 to 1966. President Lyndon Johnson appointed him to the United States Court of Claims in 1966. On October 1, 1982 he was reassigned by operation of law to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He assumed senior status one year later, on October 1, 1983, remaining in that capacity until his death, in Washington, DC.