Kevin Hunter Sharp (born January 22, 1963) 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. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee The United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee (in case citations, M.D. Tenn.) is the federal trial court for most of Middle Tennessee. Based at the Estes Kefauver Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Nashville ...

Early life and education

Sharp was born on January 22, 1963, in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

. He earned an

Associate of Arts An associate degree or associate's degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of academic qualification above a high school diploma and below a bachelor's degree ...

from

Mesa Community College Mesa Community College (MCC) is a Public college, public community college in Mesa, Arizona. It is the largest of the 10 community colleges in the Maricopa County Community College District, the largest community college district in the Unite ...

in 1988. Sharp then received a

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

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

, from Christian Brothers College (now known as

Christian Brothers University Christian Brothers University is a private Catholic university in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1871 by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, a Catholic teaching order. History Founded on November 19, 1871, it was estab ...

) in 1990 and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1993.

Federal judicial service

During the

111th Congress The 111th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government from January 3, 2009, until January 3, 2011. It began during the last weeks of the George W. Bush administration, with t ...

, Democrats from the Tennessee House delegation provided recommendations to the

Obama White House Barack Obama's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 44th president of the United States began with First inauguration of Barack Obama, his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democra ...

for filling a vacancy on the

. Sharp, himself a Democrat, was included on the original list of recommendations, but the delegation ultimately recommended Nashville attorney Kathryn Barnett as its first choice. However, Sharp was the preferred choice of Republican Tennessee Senators

Lamar Alexander Andrew Lamar Alexander Jr. (born July 3, 1940) is an American politician and attorney who served as a United States senator from Tennessee from 2003 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he also was the 45th governor of Tennessee from 1 ...

and

Bob Corker Robert Phillips Corker Jr. (born August 24, 1952) is an American businessman and politician who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 2007 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Chair of the Senate Foreign Rela ...

. On November 17, 2010, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

nominated Sharp to a judgeship on the Middle District of Tennessee. His nomination was for the seat vacated by Judge Robert L. Echols. On May 2, 2011, the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

confirmed his nomination by a 89–0 vote. He received his commission on May 3, 2011, and served as Chief Judge beginning October 1, 2014. On January 26, 2017, he sent a letter to

President Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021. ...

resigning his judgeship effective April 15, 2017.

Personal

Sharp's former father-in-law, Lew Conner, is a former state court judge and a prominent Republican fundraiser who has donated over forty thousand dollars to the campaigns and

political action committees In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The le ...

of Senators

and

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Kevin Hunter 1963 births Christian Brothers University alumni Living people Judges of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee Lawyers from Memphis, Tennessee Tennessee Democrats United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama United States Navy sailors Vanderbilt University alumni