Gerald Bard Tjoflat (born December 6, 1929) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a Senior United States circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He previously served as Chief Judge of the Eleventh Circuit and as a United States district judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Tjoflat is currently tied with J. Clifford Wallace as the longest serving active U.S. federal judge.
Gerald Bard Tjoflat
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals
Chief Judge — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Born 1929 in Pittsburgh, PA
FJC ID: 2393
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 20/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 497/year
District Court of Appeal of Florida · 1968–1970Florida Middle District Court · 1970–1975Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals · 1975–1981Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals · 1981–
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- White
Prior employment
- Judicial Conference of the United StatesMember · 1990–1996
- Circuit Court of Florida, Fourth Judicial CircuitJudge · 1968–1970
- Private practice, Jacksonville, Florida1957–1968
U.S. Army corporal1953–1955
Appointments
1981–2019 (None (reassignment))
1975–1981 · Appointed by Gerald Ford (Republican)Term ended: Reassignment
1970–1975 · Appointed by Richard M. Nixon (Republican)Term ended: Appointment to Another Judicial Position
1968–1970
Education
- Duke Universityjd
LL.B. · 1957