Samuel James Ervin III (March 2, 1926 – September 18, 1999) was a

United States circuit judge In the United States, a federal judge is a judge who serves on a court established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. Often called "Article III judges", federal judges include the chief justice and associate justices of the U.S. Su ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a United States federal court, federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court, district cou ...

and the son of

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

Sam Ervin Samuel James Ervin Jr. (September 27, 1896April 23, 1985) was an American politician who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina from 1954 to 1974. A Southern Democrat, he liked to call himself a " country lawyer", and often told humorous ...

Education and career

Ervin was born in Morganton,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. He 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 ...

from

Davidson College Davidson College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina, United States. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after American Revolutiona ...

in 1948 and a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

in 1951. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

from 1944 to 1946 and from 1951 to 1952. He was in private practice of law in Morganton from 1952 to 1967. He was the solicitor for the Burke County, North Carolina Board of Commissioners, from 1954 to 1956. He was a Member of the

North Carolina House of Representatives The North Carolina House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House is a 120-member body led by a Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, Speaker of the House, who holds powers si ...

from 1965 to 1967. He was a judge of the Superior Court of North Carolina from 1967 to 1980.

Federal judicial service

Ervin was nominated by President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

on April 2, 1980, to the

, to a new seat created by 92 Stat. 1629. He was confirmed by 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 ...

on May 21, 1980, and received his commission on May 23, 1980. Ervin served as Chief Judge of the court from 1989 to 1996. He served on the court until his death on September 18, 1999, in Morganton. Among others, he was survived by his sons, Sam J. Ervin IV and Robert C. Ervin, both of whom became judges.

References

Sources

* 1926 births 1999 deaths Members of the North Carolina House of Representatives North Carolina state court judges Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit United States court of appeals judges appointed by Jimmy Carter People from Morganton, North Carolina Davidson College alumni Harvard Law School alumni United States Army soldiers Superior court judges in the United States United States Army personnel of World War II 20th-century members of the North Carolina General Assembly {{US-federal-judge-stub