Thomas Alexander Varlan (born July 1, 1956) is a

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 ...

of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

Education and career

Born in Oak Ridge,

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 ...

, Varlan 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 the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

in 1978 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 Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1981. 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, from 1981 to 1987. He was the law director for the City of Knoxville,

, from 1988 to 1998, thereafter returning to private practice in Knoxville from 1998 to 2003.

District court service

On January 7, 2003, Varlan was nominated by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee vacated by

Robert Leon Jordan Robert Leon Jordan (born June 28, 1934) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Education and career Born in Woodlawn, Tennessee, Jordan served in the United States Arm ...

. Varlan 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 March 13, 2003, and received his commission on March 14, 2003. He became Chief Judge on October 8, 2012. His term as Chief Judge ended up March 31, 2019.

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Varlan, Thomas Alexander 1956 births Living people University of Tennessee alumni Vanderbilt University Law School alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee United States district court judges appointed by George W. Bush 21st-century American judges People from Oak Ridge, Tennessee