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 U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
who held concurrent appointments to the
and the
from 1983 until his retirement in 2008. He was appointed by president
Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s after a distinguished career as a trial lawyer in Missouri. Like his father
Rush Limbaugh Sr. 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 citi ...
, 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 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 ...
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 and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
. 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," 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 (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 United States Senate, Senate 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)
References
External links
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{{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