Robert Lewis Hinkle (born November 7, 1951) is a senior United States district judge of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida The United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida (in case citations, N.D. Fla.) is a federal court in the Eleventh Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are appea ...

Biography

Born on November 7, 1951, in Apalachicola,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, Hinkle 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

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

in 1972 and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1976. He was a

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

for Judge

Irving Goldberg Irving Loeb Goldberg (June 29, 1906 – February 11, 1995) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Education and career Born in Port Arthur, Texas, Goldberg received a Bachelor of Arts degr ...

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * Eastern District of Louisiana * M ...

from 1976 to 1977. From 1977 to 1978, he was in private practice in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, then practiced in

Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the population ...

, Florida from 1978 to 1996. He became an adjunct professor of law at Florida State University in 1981.

Federal judicial service

Hinkle was nominated by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

on June 6, 1996, to a seat vacated by William H. Stafford, Jr. of the

. He 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 July 25, 1996, and received his commission on August 1, 1996. He served as chief judge from 2004 to 2009. He took

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 November 7, 2016.

Notable rulings

On August 21, 2014, Hinkle issued a ruling in '' Brenner v. Scott'' that denied the state defendants'

motion to dismiss In United States law, a motion is a procedural device to bring a limited, contested issue before a court for decision. It is a request to the judge (or judges) to make a decision about the case. Motions may be made at any point in administrativ ...

and granted the same-sex couple plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary

injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in pa ...

. In ordering the injunction, Judge Hinkle found that Florida's statutory and constitutional bans on same-sex marriage were federally unconstitutional. Hinkle heard the case '' Jones et al v. DeSantis'' which concerned a Florida law, SB 7066, which “required felons to pay legal fees as part of their sentences before regaining the vote”. On May 24, 2020, he ruled that the law was “unconstitutional for those unable to pay, or unable to find out how much they owe”. Hinkle's decision was overturned and the requirement found constitutional by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. In June 2021, Judge Hinkle preliminarily enjoined
Senate Bill 7072
which levies fines and imposes additional penalties against social media platforms that blocked or otherwise inhibited content from political candidates and media organizations.

References

Sources

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hinkle, Robert 1951 births 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges Florida State University alumni Harvard Law School alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida Living people People from Apalachicola, Florida United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton