Roy Mahlon Shelbourne

Born in Bardwell, Kentucky, Shelbourne received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Union University in Jackson, Tennessee in 1912 and a Bachelor of Laws from Cumberland School of Law (then part of Cumberland University, now part of Samford University) in 1913. He entered private practice in Bardwell from 1913 to 1927. He was county attorney of Carlisle County, Kentucky from 1918 to 1926. He was President of the Bardwell Deposit Bank from 1926 to 1936. He returned to private practice in Paducah, Kentucky from 1936 to 1946.[1]

Judicial portrait of Shelbourne, 1981, by Judith Kuehn.

Shelbourne was nominated by President Harry S. Truman on January 17, 1946, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky vacated by Judge Shackelford Miller Jr. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 5, 1946, and received his commission on February 8, 1946. He served as Chief Judge from 1948 to 1960. He assumed senior status on November 1, 1964. Shelbourne served in that capacity until his death on December 29, 1974, in Louisville, Kentucky.[1]

• Roy Mahlon Shelbourne at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.