Robert Foster Chapman (April 24, 1926 – April 18, 2018) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and a former United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina.
Robert Foster Chapman
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
Born 1926 in Inman, SC
Died 2018 in Spartanburg, SC
FJC ID: 411
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 11/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 190/year
South Carolina District Court · 1971–1981Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals · 1981–2018
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
- Private practice, Spartanburg, South Carolina1949–1951, 1953–1971
U.S. Navy lieutenant1951–1953- U.S. Navy ensign1943–1946
Appointments
1981–2018 · Appointed by Ronald Reagan (Republican)Term ended: Death
1971–1981 · Appointed by Richard M. Nixon (Republican)Term ended: Appointment to Another Judicial Position
Education
LL.B. · 1949- University of South CarolinaB.S. · 1945