Roy Mahlon Shelbourne (November 12, 1890 – December 29, 1974) 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 Western District of Kentucky The United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky (in case citations, W.D. Ky.) is the federal district court for the western part of the state of Kentucky. Appeals from the Western District of Kentucky are taken to the Unite ...

Education and career

Born in Bardwell,

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

, Shelbourne received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from

Union University Union University is a private Baptist Christian university in Jackson, Tennessee, with additional campuses in Germantown and Hendersonville. The university is affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention (Southern Baptist Convention). It is ...

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

in 1912 and 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

Cumberland School of Law Cumberland School of Law is an American Bar Association, ABA accredited law school at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. It was founded in 1847 at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee and is the 11th oldest law schoo ...

(then part of

Cumberland University Cumberland University is a private university in Lebanon, Tennessee. It was founded in 1842. The campus's current historic buildings were constructed between 1892 and 1896. History 1842-1861 The university was founded by the Cumberlan ...

, now part of Samford University) in 1913. He entered private practice in Bardwell from 1913 to 1927. He was county attorney of Carlisle County, Kentucky from 1918 to 1926. He was President of the Bardwell Deposit Bank from 1926 to 1936. He returned to private practice in

Paducah Paducah ( ) is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky. The largest city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers, halfway between St. Louis, Miss ...

, Kentucky from 1936 to 1946.

Federal judicial service

Shelbourne was nominated by President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

on January 17, 1946, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Shackelford Miller Jr. 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 February 5, 1946, and received his commission on February 8, 1946. He served as Chief Judge from 1948 to 1960. 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 November 1, 1964. Shelbourne served in that capacity until his death on December 29, 1974, in

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

, Kentucky.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shelbourne, Roy Mahlon 1890 births 1974 deaths People from Bardwell, Kentucky Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky United States district court judges appointed by Harry S. Truman 20th-century American judges