Ellen Lucille Bree Burns (December 13, 1923 – June 3, 2019) was 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 District of Connecticut The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (in case citations, D. Conn.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Connecticut. The court has offices in Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven. Appeals ...

Education and career

Burns was born in

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. She 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 Albertus Magnus College in 1944. She received 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

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...

in 1947. She was a special assistant to the Commission to Revise the Connecticut General Statutes from 1947 to 1948. She was an attorney for Legislative Legal Services of the State of Connecticut from 1949 to 1973. She was a judge of the Circuit Court of Connecticut from 1973 to 1974. She was a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Connecticut from 1974 to 1976. She was a judge of the Superior Court of Connecticut from 1976 to 1978.

Federal judicial service

Burns 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 February 15, 1978, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge

Mosher Joseph Blumenfeld Mosher Joseph Blumenfeld (March 23, 1904 – November 5, 1988) was a United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. Education and career Born on March 23, 1904, in ...

. She 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 17, 1978 and received her commission on May 18, 1978, becoming the first female district judge in Connecticut. She served as Chief Judge from 1988 to 1992 and assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

on September 1, 1992. She took inactive senior status on March 31, 2015, meaning that while she remained a federal judge, she no longer heard cases or participated in the business of the court. She died on June 3, 2019, aged 95.

References

Sources

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Who's Who of International Women 2002
1923 births 2019 deaths Albertus Magnus College alumni Yale Law School alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut United States district court judges appointed by Jimmy Carter 20th-century American judges Lawyers from New Haven, Connecticut Superior court judges in the United States Connecticut state court judges 20th-century American women judges {{Connecticut-state-judge-stub