Samuel James Ervin III (March 2, 1926 – September 18, 1999) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the son of United States Senator Sam Ervin.
Samuel James Ervin III
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals
Chief Judge — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Born 1926 in Morganton, NC
Died 1999 in Morganton, NC
FJC ID: 715
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 8/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 189/year
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals · 1980–1999
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 · 1989–1995
- North Carolina Superior CourtJudge · 1967–1980
- Private practice, Morganton, North Carolina1952–1967
- North CarolinaState representative · 1965–1967
- Burke County [North Carolina] Board of CommissionersSolicitor · 1954–1956
U.S. Army lieutenant1944–1946, 1951–1952
Appointments
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth CircuitChief Judge1980–1999 · Appointed by Jimmy Carter (Democratic)Term ended: Death
Education
LL.B. · 1951- Davidson CollegeB.S. · 1948