Samuel James Ervin III (March 2, 1926 – September 18, 1999) was a

United States circuit judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. Cou ...

of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the son of

United States Senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

Sam Ervin Samuel James Ervin Jr. (September 27, 1896April 23, 1985) was an American politician. A Southern Democrats, Democrat, he served as a United States Senate, U.S. Senator from North Carolina from 1954 to 1974. A native of Morganton, North Carolina, ...

Education and career

Ervin was born in Morganton,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. He received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

from

Davidson College Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after Revolutionary War general William Lee Davidson, who was killed at the nearby Battle of Cowan� ...

in 1948 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 Chi ...

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 1951. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

from 1944 to 1946 and from 1951 to 1952. He was in private practice of law in Morganton from 1952 to 1967. He was the solicitor for the Burke County, North Carolina Board of Commissioners, from 1954 to 1956. He was a Member of the

North Carolina House of Representatives The North Carolina House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House is a 120-member body led by a Speaker of the House, who holds powers similar to those of the President pro-tem in the North Ca ...

from 1965 to 1967. He was a judge of the Superior Court of North Carolina from 1967 to 1980.

Federal judicial service

Ervin 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 April 2, 1980, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, to a new seat created by 92 Stat. 1629. 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 May 21, 1980, and received his commission on May 23, 1980. Ervin served as Chief Judge of the court from 1989 to 1996. He served on the court until his death on September 18, 1999, in Morganton. Among others, he was survived by his sons,

Sam J. Ervin IV Samuel James Ervin IV (born November 18, 1955) is a North Carolina lawyer and jurist who served on the North Carolina Supreme Court from 2015 to 2022. He previously served as a state Utilities Commissioner and as a judge of the North Carolina Cou ...

and Robert C. Ervin, both of whom became judges.

References

Sources

* 1926 births 1999 deaths Members of the North Carolina House of Representatives North Carolina state court judges Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit United States court of appeals judges appointed by Jimmy Carter 20th-century American judges People from Morganton, North Carolina Davidson College alumni Harvard Law School alumni United States Army soldiers Superior court judges in the United States 20th-century American politicians United States Army personnel of World War II {{US-federal-judge-stub