Higginbotham spent 13 years as a District Court judge. His chambers were originally in the Federal Courthouse and Post Office at 9th and Market Streets, in Philadelphia (the building was later named in honor of Robert N.C. Nix Sr., the first African American member of Pennsylvania's congressional delegation and father of Robert N.C. Nix Jr., the first African-American Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court). As a new judge, Higginbotham still encountered racism. On his first day on the district court, he parked his car in the area reserved for judges, and was yelled at by a guard "Hey, boy!" Higginbotham asked whether the guard was speaking to him, and when the guard responded that only judges were permitted to park in the area, Higginbotham replied: "I understand, and that's why I parked there." The guard said, "Oh, you're Judge Higginbotham. Welcome to the Court." Higginbotham would later remember the incident as "typical of a lot of things which have happened to both minorities and to women."