Julia Smith Gibbons

Julia Gibbons
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Incumbent
Assumed office July 31, 2002
Appointed by	George W. Bush
Preceded by	Gilbert Merritt
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee
In office 1994–2000
Preceded by	Odell Horton
Succeeded by	James Todd
Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee
In office June 7, 1983 – July 31, 2002
Appointed by	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Harry Wellford
Succeeded by	Daniel Breen
Personal details
Born	(1950-12-23) December 23, 1950 Pulaski, Tennessee, U.S.
Spouse	Bill Gibbons
Alma mater	Vanderbilt University University of Virginia

Julia Smith Gibbons (born December 23, 1950 in Pulaski, Tennessee) is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Background

Julia Gibbons grew up in the rural Tennessee town of Pulaski. Gibbons received a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. After graduation, she served as a law clerk to Sixth Circuit Judge William Ernest Miller. She was in private practice from 1976-1979 before joining Governor Lamar Alexander's staff as a legal advisor in 1979. In 1981, she left the Governor's staff to become a state trial judge in Tennessee.

Federal judicial service

District court service

Gibbons was first appointed to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan on June 7, 1983. She served as a judge on the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee until her appointment by President George W. Bush to the Sixth Circuit. In 2003, she discussed her views on women in the judiciary at a University of Virginia School of Law event.

Sixth Circuit nomination and confirmation

Gibbons was nominated to the Sixth Circuit by Bush on October 9, 2001, to fill a seat vacated by Judge Gilbert Stroud Merritt, Jr., who had assumed Senior status. She was confirmed 95-0 by the United States Senate on July 29, 2002. Gibbons was the first judge nominated to the Sixth Circuit by Bush and confirmed by the Senate.

Personal

Her husband, Bill Gibbons, is the former District Attorney General of Shelby County, Tennessee, the county that contains Memphis, Tennessee. Bill Gibbons was a 2010 Republican gubernatorial candidate for the state of Tennessee.

External links

• Julia Smith Gibbons at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.