Reeves, Pamela L., 1954-2020

Pamela Lynn Reeves (July 21, 1954 – September 10, 2020) was the Chief United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. She was the first female judge to serve in the Eastern District.

Reeves was born on July 21, 1954, in Marion, Virginia. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Tennessee in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. She received a Juris Doctor in 1979 from the George C. Taylor College of Law at the University of Tennessee.

On May 16, 2013, President Barack Obama nominated Reeves to serve as a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, to the seat being vacated by Judge Thomas W. Phillips, who eventually took senior status on August 1, 2013. Her nomination was reported out of committee on January 16, 2014. The motion to invoke cloture was agreed to on March 5, 2014, by a vote of 62–37. Her nomination was confirmed later that day by a vote of 99–0. She received her judicial commission on March 7, 2014, and she became Chief Judge on April 1, 2019.

Reeves died on September 10, 2020, from cancer.