Samuel Estill Whitaker (September 25, 1886 – March 26, 1967) was a

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

attorney and later a

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

of the

United States Court of Claims The Court of Claims was a federal court that heard claims against the United States government. It was established in 1855, renamed in 1948 to the United States Court of Claims (), and abolished in 1982. Then, its jurisdiction was assumed by the n ...

Education and career

Born on September 25, 1886, in

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

, Whitaker received 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 the

University of Chattanooga The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UT Chattanooga, UTC, or Chattanooga) is a public university in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1886 and is part of the University of Tennessee System. History UTC was found ...

(now the

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UT Chattanooga, UTC, or Chattanooga) is a public university in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1886 and is part of the University of Tennessee System. History UTC was founde ...

) in 1909. He was in private practice in

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

, Tennessee from 1909 to 1914, when he joined 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 ...

at the outset of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He served as a captain in Field Artillery until 1919. He was an attorney for the

Bureau of Internal Revenue The Bureau of Internal Revenue'' ''(BIR; ) is a revenue service for the Philippine government, which is responsible for collecting more than half of the total tax revenues of the government. It is an agency of the Department of Finance and i ...

(now the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...

) from 1919 to 1920. He returned to private practice in Chattanooga from 1921 to 1937. He was city attorney of Chattanooga from 1923 to 1924. He was the Mayor of Riverview,Now part of Chattanooga. Tennessee from 1925 to 1929. He was a special assistant to the

Attorney General of the United States The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government. The attorney general acts as the principal legal advisor to the president of the ...

in the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

from 1933 to 1937. He was an assistant attorney general for the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice in 1939.

Federal judicial service

Whitaker was nominated by President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

on June 23, 1939, to a Judge seat on the Court of Claims (

from June 25, 1948) vacated by Judge

Richard S. Whaley Richard Smith Whaley (July 15, 1874 – November 8, 1951) was a United States representative from South Carolina and Chief Justice of the Court of Claims. Education and career Born on July 15, 1874, in Charleston, South Carolina, Whaley at ...

. 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 July 11, 1939, and his received commission on July 13, 1939. Whitaker was initially appointed as a Judge under Article I, but the court was raised to Article III status by

operation of law The phrase "by operation of law" is a legal term that indicates that a right or liability has been created for a party, irrespective of the intent of that party, because it is dictated by existing legal principles. For example, if a person dies wi ...

on July 28, 1953, and Whitaker thereafter served as an Article III Judge. He assumed senior status on July 19, 1964. His service terminated on March 26, 1967, due to his death in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Note

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitaker, Samuel Estill 1886 births 1967 deaths Judges of the United States Court of Claims United States Article I federal judges appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt