Robert Lewis Hinkle

Robert Hinkle
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida
In office 2004–2009
Preceded by	Roger Vinson
Succeeded by	Stephan P. Mickle
Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida
Incumbent
Assumed office August 1, 1996
Appointed by	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	William Henry Stafford, Jr.
Personal details
Born	1951 (age 72–73) Apalachicola, Florida, U.S.
Alma mater	Florida State University Harvard Law School

Robert Lewis Hinkle (born 1951) is a United States federal judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida.

Born in Apalachicola, Florida, Hinkle received a B.A. from Florida State University in 1972 and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1976. He was a law clerk for Hon. Irving Goldberg, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from 1976 to 1977. From 1977 to 1978, he was in private practice in Atlanta, Georgia, then practiced in Tallahassee, Florida from 1978 to 1996. He became an adjunct professor of law at Florida State University in 1981.

Hinkle was nominated by President Bill Clinton on June 6, 1996, to a seat vacated by William H. Stafford, Jr. on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 25, 1996, and received his commission on August 1, 1996. He served as chief judge from 2004 to 2009.

On August 21, 2014, Hinkle issued a ruling in Brenner v. Scott that denied the state defendants' motion to dismiss and granted the same-sex couple plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction. In ordering the injunction, Judge Hinkle found that Florida's statutory and constitutional bans on same-sex marriage were federally unconstitutional.

Sources

• Robert Lewis Hinkle at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.

Legal offices
Preceded by Roger Vinson	Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida 2004–2009	Succeeded by Stephan P. Mickle
Preceded by William Henry Stafford, Jr.	Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida 1996–present	Incumbent