Edward Samuel Smith

Who was Edward Samuel Smith?

Edward Samuel Smith was a United States federal judge.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Smith received a B.A. from the University of Virginia in 1941 and served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II, from 1941 to 1946. He received a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1947 and entered private practice in Washington, D.C. from 1947 to 1961. He joined the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, first as chief of the trial section in 1961, and then as a deputy assistant attorney general for civil trials from 1962 to 1963. He returned to private practice in Baltimore, Maryland from 1963 to 1978.

Smith was appointed to the United States Court of Claims by President Jimmy Carter in 1978. On October 1, 1982, Smith was reassigned by operation of law to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He assumed senior status on June 1, 1989, and continued to serve in that capacity until his death, in Birmingham, Alabama.