Robert J. Shelby
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Robert James Shelby (born March 13, 1970) is an American attorney and judge serving as the Chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah.


Early life and education

Shelby was born in
Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin Fort Atkinson is a city in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States. It is on the Rock River (Illinois), Rock River, a few miles upstream from Lake Koshkonong. The population was 12,579 at the 2020 census. Fort Atkins ...
. He served in the 19th Special Forces Group, 1457th Combat Engineer Battalion of the Utah Army National Guard from 1988 to 1996, and was on active duty during
Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
in 1991. He received several military awards for his service, including the United States Army Achievement Medal for Desert Storm and the National Defense Service Medal. He received his
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 in 1994 from
Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...
and his
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 ...
in 1998 from the
University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law or UVA Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as part of his "academical v ...
.


Career

In 1999, he served as 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 John Thomas Greene Jr. of the United States District Court for the District of Utah. He was an associate at Snow, Christensen & Martineau in
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
from 2000 to 2005. From 2005 to 2011, he was an associate at Burbridge, Mitchell & Gross. From 2011 to 2012, he again practiced at Snow, Christensen & Martineau as a
shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal own ...
. His practice focused on complex commercial litigation and catastrophic personal injury cases on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants. Shelby served on the Salt Lake County Bar Association's Executive Committee since 2002, and as its vice chairman since 2011. He served on the Utah Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on Rules of Civil Procedure and its Ethics and Discipline Committee. He lives in Salt Lake City with his wife, Angela, and their two children. He is a registered Republican.


Federal judicial service

On November 30, 2011, President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
nominated Shelby to be district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah, to the seat vacated by Judge Tena Campbell, who assumed senior status on January 1, 2011. He received a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 28, 2012, and his nomination was reported to the floor on April 26, 2012, by
voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vo ...
. Both Senators from Utah,
Orrin Hatch Orrin Grant Hatch (March 22, 1934 – April 23, 2022) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Utah from 1977 to 2019. Hatch's 42-year Senate tenure made him the longest-serving Republican U.S. senator ...
and Mike Lee, endorsed his nomination, with Sen. Lee describing Shelby as "pre-eminently qualified" and predicting that he would be "an outstanding judge." Hatch highly lauded Shelby: "A man of keen intellect, Robert Shelby...has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the law". In the early hours of September 22, 2012, on what was officially still the legislative day of September 21, the Senate confirmed Shelby in a
voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vo ...
. He received his commission on September 25, 2012. He became chief judge on October 1, 2018.


Notable decisions

*On December 20, 2013, Shelby struck down Amendment 3 of
Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
’s State Constitution, which defined marriage as a union solely between a man and a woman, opening the way for same-sex marriage in the state. He found that Amendment 3 was in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which guarantees due process and equal protection. This highly significant ruling set off a series of other district court decisions that overturned bans in several other states. His ruling was affirmed by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals on June 25, 2014. On October 6, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court declined the review the Tenth Circuit's ruling, legalizing same-sex marriage in Utah.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shelby, Robert James 1970 births Living people 21st-century American judges Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Utah People from Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama University of Utah faculty University of Virginia School of Law alumni Utah lawyers Utah Republicans Utah State University alumni