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Biography
Herbert Theodore Milburn (May 26, 1931 – April 1, 2016) was a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee and later a United State Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Born in Cleveland, Tennessee, Milburn received a Bachelor of Science from East Tennessee State University in 1953 and was in the United States Army, Security Agency from 1953 to 1956. He received a Juris Doctor from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1959, and was in private practice in Chattanooga, Tennessee from then until 1973. He was a judge on the Circuit Court of Hamilton County, Tennessee, Division III from 1973 to 1983.
On April 14, 1983, Milburn was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee vacated by Charles G. Neese. Milburn was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 6, 1983, and received his commission the following day. He served briefly served as chief judge in 1984 but on September 6, 1984, Reagan nominated Milburn for elevation to a new seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit created by 98 Stat. 333. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 3, 1984, and received his commission the next day. He took senior status due to a certified disability on July 1, 1996, serving in that status until his death on April 1, 2016, at the Alexian Village Retirement Community, in Signal Mountain, Tennessee.