Marion Speed Boyd

Marion Speed Boyd
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee
In office August 1, 1966 – January 9, 1988
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee
In office 1961–1966
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Bailey Brown
Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee
In office September 27, 1940 – August 1, 1966
Appointed by	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by	John Donelson Martin Sr.
Succeeded by	Robert Malcolm McRae Jr.
Personal details
Born	Marion Speed Boyd (1900-09-12)September 12, 1900 Covington, Tennessee
Died	January 9, 1988(1988-01-09) (aged 87)
Education	University of Tennessee College of Law (LLB.)

Marion Speed Boyd (September 12, 1900 – January 9, 1988) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.

Education and career

Born in Covington, Tennessee, Boyd received a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1921 and entered private practice in Memphis, Tennessee. He was a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1925 to 1927, and was then an assistant state attorney general of Shelby County, Tennessee until 1935. He served in the Tennessee Senate in 1935, and was then a Referee in Bankruptcy for the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee from 1935 to 1937. He was a Judge of the City Court of Memphis from 1937 to 1938, and state attorney general of Shelby County from 1940 to 1961.[1]

Federal judicial service

Judicial portrait of Boyd, 1964, by K. Doyle Boyd.

On September 13, 1940, Boyd was nominated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee vacated by Judge John Donelson Martin Sr. Boyd was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 18, 1940, and received his commission on September 27, 1940. He served as a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 1960 to 1963, and as Chief Judge from 1961 to 1966, assuming senior status on August 1, 1966 and continuing in that capacity until his death on January 9, 1988.[1]

Notable cases

Boyd confirmed the death sentence of Clyde Arwood in January 1942, Tennessee's only federal death sentence.[2]

See also

• List of United States federal judges by longevity of service

References

1. Marion Speed Boyd at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
2. "Arwood Gets Chair for Pugh's Murder". The Commercial Appeal. 27 January 1942. p. 17. Archived from the original on 6 November 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2022 – via Newspapers.com.

Sources

• Marion Speed Boyd at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.

Legal offices
Preceded by John Donelson Martin Sr.	Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee 1940–1966	Succeeded by Robert Malcolm McRae Jr.
Preceded by Office established	Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee 1961–1966	Succeeded by Bailey Brown