Stephen Nathaniel Limbaugh Sr. (born November 17, 1927) is a former

United States District Judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

who held concurrent appointments to 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. Th ...

and the

United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri The United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri (in case citations, W.D. Mo.) is the federal judicial district encompassing 66 counties in the western half of the State of Missouri. The Court is based in the Charles Evans ...

from 1983 until his retirement in 2008. He was appointed by president

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

in the early 1980s after a distinguished career as a trial lawyer in Missouri. Like his father

Rush Limbaugh Sr. Rush Hudson Limbaugh I (September 27, 1891 – April 8, 1996) was an American legislator, and ambassador. His legal career spanned nearly 80 years, and he argued cases before the Missouri Supreme Court, Internal Revenue Service Appellate ...

before him, Limbaugh served as president of the Missouri Bar from 1982 to his appointment to the bench. His son, Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr., is a federal judge for the Eastern District of Missouri.

Life and career

Limbaugh was born and raised in

Cape Girardeau, Missouri Cape Girardeau ( , french: Cap-Girardeau ; colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city in Cape Girardeau and Scott Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. At the 2020 census, the population was 39,540. The city is one of two principal citie ...

, the son of Beulah Maude (Seebaugh) and Rush Hudson Limbaugh. He served 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 ...

for eighteen months from 1946 to 1948. He earned a B.A. in history from

Southeast Missouri State University Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) is a public university in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In addition to the main campus, the university has four regional campuses offering full degree programs and a secondary campus housing the Holland Col ...

in 1950 and a J.D. from the

University of Missouri School of Law The University of Missouri School of Law (Mizzou Law or MU Law) is the law school of the University of Missouri. It is located on the university's main campus in Columbia, forty minutes from the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City. The sc ...

in 1951. He immediately went to work for his father's law firm where he did real estate and title work. From 1955 to 1958, he served as prosecuting attorney for Cape Girardeau County. Subsequently, he was the part-time City attorney of Cape Girardeau, Missouri from 1964 to 1968, while also working in his family law firm, in the same town. After retirement from the federal bench, Limbaugh went to work as senior counsel for the law firm of Armstrong Teasdale in

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

. He also worked as a mediator. He is an uncle of radio commentator

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of '' The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM r ...

, who in 2017 described "Uncle Steve" as "the rock of the

Limbaugh family The Limbaugh family is a prominent political family from Missouri. Its members have served as attorneys, politicians, judges, and political commentators in Missouri and the United States. The most well-known member is former conservative talk radi ...

," maintaining many of the family's traditions and sharing Rush Sr.'s longevity and vivaciousness even into old age. In 2019, Limbaugh returned to Cape Girardeau and resumed working with the law firm that still bears his father's name. Limbaugh was awarded the Southeastern Missouri Spirit of America Award in July 2021.

Federal District Court service

On June 7, 1983, through the lobbying of Senator

Jack Danforth John Claggett Danforth (born September 5, 1936) is an American politician, attorney and diplomat who began his career in 1968 as the Attorney General of Missouri and served three terms as United States Senator from Missouri. In 2004, he served br ...

(who had employed Limbaugh during his campaigns for office),

President Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

nominated Limbaugh to serve as a United States District concurrently on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, succeeding Judge Kenneth Wangelin. He was confirmed by the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

on July 18, 1983, and received his commission on July 19, 1983. He took senior status on May 1, 1996, and was succeeded by Rodney W. Sippel. He retired on July 31, 2008 to allow his son Stephen Jr. to serve on the same court (as federal rules prohibit members of the same family from serving on the same court).

Selected judicial opinions

* ''National Football League v. McBee & Brunos'', 621 F.Supp. 880 (E.D. Mo. 1985), affirmed as modified 792 F.2d 726 (8th Cir. 1986) (copyright satellite interception) * ''Peabody Holding Co., Inc. v. Costain Group, PLC'', 808 F.Supp. 1425 (E.D. Mo. 1992), 812 F.Supp. 1402 (E.D. Mo. 1993) (contracts Australian coal mines) * ''Interactive Digital Software Association v. St. Louis County'', 200 F. Supp. 2d 1126 (E.D. Mo. 2002), reversed 329 F.3d 954 (8th Cir. 2003) (video games and free speech protection) * ''In Re American Milling Company'', 270 F.Supp.2d 1068 (E.D. Mo. 2003), aff'd 409 F.3d 1005 (8th Cir. 2005) (admiralty) * ''Washington University v. Catalona'', 437 F.Supp2d 985 (E.D. Mo. 2006), aff'd 490 F3d 667 (8th Cir. 2007), cert denied 128 S.Ct. 1122 (2008) (ownership of tissue donated by patients for research)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Limbaugh, Stephen Nathaniel Sr. 1927 births Living people American people of German descent Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri Military personnel from Missouri People from Cape Girardeau, Missouri Southeast Missouri State University alumni United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan 20th-century American judges University of Missouri School of Law alumni Limbaugh family