John Keating Regan (March 26, 1911 – March 9, 1987) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri (in case citations, E.D. Mo.) is a trial level federal district court based in St. Louis, Missouri, with jurisdiction over fifty counties in the eastern half of Missouri. T ...

Education and career

Born in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, Regan 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 Ch ...

from

Benton College of Law Benton College of Law was a law school in St. Louis, Missouri. It opened in as Kent School of Law, and incorporated as Benton School of Law in 1897. George L. Corlis was its dean. James Avery Webb helped establish the school. The school initiall ...

(now defunct) in 1934. He was in private practice in St. Louis from 1935 to 1939, and was an assistant prosecuting attorney of St. Louis from 1939 to 1942. He was a lieutenant in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, from 1942 to 1945. He returned to private practice in St. Louis from 1945 to 1949. He was a judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri from 1949 to 1962.

Federal judicial service

On March 5, 1962, Regan was nominated by President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Randolph Henry Weber. Regan 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 April 2, 1962, and received his commission on April 3, 1962. He was a Judge of the

Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals The Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals was established by the United States Congress in December 1971 with exclusive jurisdiction to hear appeals from the decisions of the U.S. district courts in cases arising under the wage and price control pr ...

from 1977 to 1987. He assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

on April 7, 1977, serving in that capacity until his death on March 9, 1987.

References

Sources

External links

John Keating Regan papers (1959–1980) in the Western Historical Manuscript Collection, University of Missouri-St. Louis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Regan, John Keating 1911 births 1987 deaths Missouri state court judges Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri United States district court judges appointed by John F. Kennedy 20th-century American judges United States Navy officers 20th-century American lawyers