Samuel Estill Whitaker


Samuel Estill Whitaker was a Tennessee attorney and later a Judge of the United States Court of Claims.

Education and career

Born on September 25, 1886, in Winchester, Tennessee, Whitaker received a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Chattanooga in 1909. He was in private practice in Chattanooga, Tennessee from 1909 to 1914, when he joined the United States Army at the outset of World War I. He served as a captain in Field Artillery until 1919. He was an attorney for the Bureau of Internal Revenue 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, Tennessee from 1925 to 1929. He was a special assistant to the Attorney General of the United States in the United States Department of Justice 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 on June 23, 1939, to a Judge seat on the Court of Claims vacated by Judge Richard S. Whaley. He was confirmed by the United States Senate 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 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.

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