Thomas Varlan

Nonpartisan

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee

Tenure

2003 - Present

Years in position

22

Education

Bachelor's

University of Tennessee, 1978

Law

Vanderbilt University School of Law, 1981

Personal

Birthplace

Oak Ridge, TN

Contact

Official website

Thomas Varlan is anArticle III federal judge for theUnited States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. He joined the court in 2003 after being nominated by PresidentGeorge W. Bush.

Varlan served as chief judge of the court from October 8, 2012, to March 31, 2019.^[1][2][3]

On December 2, 2025, Varlan announced that he would assumesenior status on October 5, 2026.^[4]

Early life and education

A native ofTennessee, Varlan graduated from the University of Tennessee with his bachelor's degree in 1978 and later graduated from Vanderbilt University School of Law with hisJ.D. degree in 1981.^[5]

Professional career

Varlan started out as a private practice attorney inAtlanta from 1981 to 1987 and became Law director for the City ofKnoxville from 1988 to 1998 and later entered inrto Private practice,Knoxville from 1998 till 2003 when Varlan was appointed to the Federal Bench.^[5]

Judicial career

Eastern District of Tennessee

On the recommendation of Senators Fred Thompson and Bill Frist, Varlan was nominated by President George W. Bush on January 7, 2003, to a seat vacated byRobert Leon Jordan as Jordan went onsenior status. Varlan was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 13, 2003, on a Senate Vote and received commission onMarch 14, 2003. He served as chief judge from 2012 to 2019.^[5]

Noteworthy cases

See also

• United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee

External links

Suggest a link

• Thomas Varlan's Biography from theFederal Judicial Center

Footnotes

v • e Federal judges who have served theUnited States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee
Active judges	Chief Judge: Travis Randall McDonough  •  Thomas Varlan  •  Clifton L. Corker  •  Charles Atchley  •  Katherine Crytzer
Senior judges	Curtis Collier  •  Robert Leon Jordan  •  J. Ronnie Greer (Federal Judge)  •  Thomas W. Phillips  •  Robert Allan Edgar (Tennessee)  •
Magistrate judges	Susan K. Lee (Tennessee)  •  Christopher H. Steger  •  Cynthia Wyrick  •  Debra Poplin  •  Jill McCook  •
Former Article III judges	Harry Mattice  •  John McNairy  •  Morgan Welles Brown  •  Herbert Milburn  •  West Hughes Humphreys  •  Connally Findlay Trigg  •  David McKendree Key  •  Charles Dickens Clark  •  Edward Terry Sanford  •  Xenophon Hicks  •  George Caldwell Taylor  •  Leslie Darr  •  Frank Wiley Wilson  •  Thomas Hull  •  James Jarvis (Tennessee)  •  Charles Neese  •  Robert Taylor (Federal judge)  •  Pamela L. Reeves  •
Former Chief judges

v • e Federal judges nominated byGeorge W. Bush
2001	Armijo •Bates •Beistline •Blackburn •Bowdre •Bunning •Bury •Caldwell •Camp •Cassell •Cebull •Clement •Clifton •Crane •Eagan •Engelhardt •Friot •Gibbons •Granade •Gregory •Gritzner •Haddon •Hartz •Heaton •Hicks •Howard •Johnson •Jorgenson •Krieger •Land •Leon •Mahan •Martinez •Martone •McConnell •Melloy •Mills •O'Brien •Parker •Payne •Prost •Reeves •Riley •Robinson •Rogers •Royal •Shedd •B. Smith •L. Smith •Walton •Wooten •Zainey
2002	Africk •Anderson •Autrey •Baylson •Cercone •Chesler •Clark •Collyer •Conner •Conti •Corrigan •Davis •Davis •Dorr •England •Ericksen •Fuller •Gardner •Godbey •Griesbach •Hanen •Hovland •Hudson •Jones •Jordan •Kinkeade •Klausner •Kugler •Leighton •Linares •Moses •Marra •Martinez •Martini •Mays •McVerry •Phillips •Raggi •Reade •Rose •Rufe •Savage •Schwab •Smith •St. Eve •Walter •White •Wolfson
2003	Adams •Altonaga •Bea •Benitez •Bennett •Boyle •Brack •Breen •Browning •Burns •Bybee •Callahan •Campbell •Cardone •Carney •Castel •Chertoff •Cohn •Colloton •Conrad •Coogler •Cook •Cooke •Crone •Der-Yeghiayan •Drell •Duffey •Duncan •Erickson •Feuerstein •Figa •Filip •Fischer •Fisher •Flanagan •Floyd •Frost •Gibson •Greer •Gruender •Guirola •Hall •Hardiman •Hayes •Herrera •Hicks •Holmes •Holwell •Hopkins •Houston •Irizarry •Jones •Junell •Karas •Kravitz •Martinez •McKnight •Minaldi •Montalvo •Mosman •Otero •Pickering •Prado •Pratter •Proctor •Quarles •Robart •Roberts •Robinson •Rodgers •Rodriguez •Sabraw •Sanchez •Saylor •Selna •Sharpe •Simon •Springmann •Stanceu •Steele •Stengel •Suko •Sutton •Sykes •Titus •Townes •Tymkovich •Van Antwerpen •Varlan •Wake •Wesley •White •Woodcock • Yeakel
2004	Alvarez •Benton •Boyko •Covington •Diamond •Harwell •Kelley •Schiavelli •Schneider •Starrett •Watson
2005	Alito •Barrett •Batten •Bianco •Brown •Burgess •Conrad •Cox •Crotty •Delgado-Colon •Dever •DuBose •Griffin •Griffith •Johnston •Kendall •Larson •Ludington •Mattice •McKeague •Neilson •Owen •Pryor •Roberts •Sandoval •Schiltz •Seabright •Smoak •Van Tatenhove •Vitaliano •Watkins •Zouhary
2006	Besosa •Bumb •Chagares •Cogan •Gelpi •Golden •Gordon •Gorsuch •Guilford •Hillman •Holmes •Ikuta •D. Jordan •K. Jordan •Kavanaugh •Miller •Moore •Shepherd •Sheridan •Smith •Whitney •Wigenton
2007	Anderson •Aycock •Bailey •Bryant •Davis •DeGiusti •Dow •Elrod •Fairbank •Fischer •Frizzell •Gutierrez •Hall •Hardiman •Haynes •Howard •Jarvey •Jones •Jonker •Kapala •Kays •Laplante •Limbaugh •Lioi •Livingston •Maloney •Mauskopf •Mendez •Miller •Neff •O'Connor •O'Grady •O'Neill •Osteen •Ozerden •Reidinger •Sammartino •Schroeder •Settle •Smith •Snow •Southwick •Suddaby •Sullivan •Thapar •Tinder •Van Bokkelen •Wood •Wright •Wu
2008	Agee •Anello •Arguello •Brimmer •Gardephe •Goldberg •Jones •Kethledge •Lawrence •Matsumoto •Melgren •Murphy •Scriven •Seibel •Slomsky •Trenga •Waddoups •White

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