Julia Smith Gibbons
Julia Smith Gibbons (born December 23, 1950 in Pulaski, Tennessee) is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Education and career. Gibbons grew up in the rural Tennessee town of Pulaski. Gibbons received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Vanderbilt University in 1972 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1975. After graduation, she served as a law clerk to Sixth Circuit Judge William Ernest Miller. She was in private practice from 1976 to 1979 before joining Governor Lamar Alexander's staff  as a legal advisor in 1979. In 1981, she left the Governor's staff to become a state trial judge in Tennessee. Federal judicial service. District Court service. Gibbons was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on April 12, 1983, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee vacated by Judge Harry W. Wellford. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 6, 1983, and received commission on June 7, 1983. She served as Chief Judge from 1994 to 2000. Her service terminated on August 2, 2002, due to elevation to the  Sixth Circuit. Court of Appeals service. Gibbons was nominated by President George W. Bush on October 9, 2001, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit vacated by Judge Gilbert S. Merritt Jr. She was confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 95 to 0 on July 29, 2002, and received commission on July 31, 2002. Gibbons was the first judge nominated to the Sixth Circuit by Bush and confirmed by the Senate. Notable cases. Gibbons wrote a concurring opinion in a 2-1 decision upholding Biden Administration COVID-19vaccine requirements for federal employees  and contractors. In her concurrence, Gibbons highlighted the limited role of the federal judiciary in COVID policy. Personal. Her husband, Bill Gibbons, is the former District Attorney General of Shelby County, Tennessee, the county that contains Memphis. Bill Gibbons was a 2010 Republican gubernatorial candidate for the state of Tennessee. In 2003, she discussed her views on women in the judiciary at a University of Virginia School of Law event.