Robert James Shelby (born March 13, 1970) is an American attorney and judge serving as the chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah.

Early life, military service, and education

Shelby was born in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. He served in the 19th Special Forces Group, 1457th Engineer Battalion of the Utah Army National Guard from 1988 to 1996, and was on active duty during

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

in 1991. He received several military awards for his service, including the United States Army Achievement Medal for

Desert Storm , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

and the

National Defense Service Medal The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) is a service award of the United States Armed Forces established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. It was awarded to every member of the U.S. Armed Forces who served during any one of four s ...

. He was honorably discharged with the rank of specialist. He received his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in 1994 from

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public university, public land grant colleges, land-grant research university with its main campus in Logan, Utah, United States. Founded in 1888 under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts as Utah's federal ...

and his

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 ...

in 1998 from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Career

In 1999, he served as a

law clerk A law clerk, judicial clerk, or judicial assistant is a person, often a lawyer, who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by Legal research, researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial ...

for Judge John Thomas Greene Jr. of the United States District Court for the District of Utah. He was an associate at Snow, Christensen & Martineau in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

from 2000 to 2005. From 2005 to 2011, he was an associate at Burbridge, Mitchell & Gross. From 2011 to 2012, he again practiced at Snow, Christensen & Martineau as a

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the ...

. His practice focused on complex commercial litigation and catastrophic

personal injury Personal injury is a legal term for an Injury (law), injury to the body, mind, or emotions, as opposed to an injury to property. In common law, common law jurisdictions the term is most commonly used to refer to a type of tort lawsuit in which the ...

cases on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants. Shelby served on the Salt Lake County Bar Association's Executive Committee since 2002, and as its vice chairman since 2011. He served on the Utah Supreme Court's Advisory Committee on Rules of Civil Procedure and its Ethics and Discipline Committee. He is a registered Republican.

Federal judicial service

On November 30, 2011, 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 Shelby to be district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah, to the seat vacated by Judge Tena Campbell, who assumed senior status on January 1, 2011. He received a hearing before the

Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally known as the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the United States Departm ...

on March 28, 2012, and his nomination was reported to the floor on April 26, 2012, by

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "by live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by respondin ...

. Both Senators from Utah,

Orrin Hatch Orrin Grant Hatch (March 22, 1934 – April 23, 2022) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Utah from 1977 to 2019. Hatch's 42-year Senate tenure made him the longest-serving Republican U.S. senat ...

and

Mike Lee Michael Shumway Lee (born June 4, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Utah, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, Lee became Utah's senior senator in 2019, whe ...

, endorsed his nomination, with Sen. Lee describing Shelby as "pre-eminently qualified" and predicting that he would be "an outstanding judge." Hatch highly lauded Shelby: "A man of keen intellect, Robert Shelby...has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the law". In the early hours of September 22, 2012, on what was officially still the legislative day of September 21, the Senate confirmed Shelby in a

. He received his commission on September 25, 2012. He became chief judge on October 1, 2018.

Notable decisions

*On December 20, 2013, Shelby struck down Amendment 3 of

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

’s State Constitution, which defined marriage as a union solely between a man and a woman, opening the way for same-sex marriage in the state. He found that Amendment 3 was in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which guarantees due process and equal protection. This highly significant ruling set off a series of other district court decisions that overturned bans in several other states. His ruling was affirmed by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals on June 25, 2014. On October 6, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court declined the review the Tenth Circuit's ruling, legalizing same-sex marriage in Utah. *On September 10, 2024, he would enjoin the Utah Social Media Regulation Act for violating the first amendment. *On April 17, 2025, Shelby dismissed a lawsuit filed in October 2023 accusing

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

of fraud in its handling of tithing funds, primarily due to the plaintiffs missing the three-year statute of limitations after the information regarding the church's financial holdings became public in late 2019 and early 2020.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shelby, Robert James 1970 births Living people Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Utah People from Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama University of Utah faculty University of Virginia School of Law alumni Utah lawyers Utah Republicans Utah State University alumni