Ellen Lucille Bree Burns (December 13, 1923 – June 3, 2019) was a
United States district judge
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...
of the
United States District Court for the District of Connecticut
The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (in case citations, D. Conn.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Connecticut. The court has offices in Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven. Appeals ...
.
Education and career
Burns was born in
New Haven
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...
,
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
. She received a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree from
Albertus Magnus College in 1944. She received a
Bachelor of Laws
Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
from
Yale Law School
Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...
in 1947. She was a special assistant to the Commission to Revise the Connecticut General Statutes from 1947 to 1948. She was an attorney for Legislative Legal Services of the State of Connecticut from 1949 to 1973. She was a judge of the Circuit Court of Connecticut from 1973 to 1974. She was a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Connecticut from 1974 to 1976. She was a judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut from 1976 to 1978.
Federal judicial service
Burns was nominated by President
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
on February 15, 1978, to a seat on the
United States District Court for the District of Connecticut
The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (in case citations, D. Conn.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Connecticut. The court has offices in Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven. Appeals ...
vacated by Judge
Mosher Joseph Blumenfeld
Mosher Joseph Blumenfeld (March 23, 1904 – November 5, 1988) was a United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut.
Education and career
Born on March 23, 1904, in ...
. She was confirmed by the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
on May 17, 1978 and received her commission on May 18, 1978,
becoming the first female district judge in Connecticut. She served as Chief Judge from 1988 to 1992 and assumed
senior status
Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...
on September 1, 1992. She took inactive senior status on March 31, 2015, meaning that while she remained a federal judge, she no longer heard cases or participated in the business of the court.
She died on June 3, 2019, aged 95.
References
Sources
*
Who's Who of International Women 2002
1923 births
2019 deaths
Albertus Magnus College alumni
Yale Law School alumni
Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut
United States district court judges appointed by Jimmy Carter
20th-century American judges
Lawyers from New Haven, Connecticut
Superior court judges in the United States
Connecticut state court judges
20th-century American women judges
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