Eugene Rice Explained

Eugene Rice
Office:Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma
Term Start:December 1, 1963
Term End:November 24, 1967
Office1:Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma
Term Start1:1949
Term End1:1963
Predecessor1:Office established
Successor1:Orville Edwin Langley
Office2:Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma
Term Start2:August 11, 1937
Term End2:December 1, 1963
Appointer2:Franklin D. Roosevelt
Predecessor2:Robert L. Williams
Successor2:Orville Edwin Langley
Birth Name:Eugene Rice
Birth Date:21 February 1891
Birth Place:Union City, Tennessee
Education:Union University (B.S.)
Valparaiso University School of Law (LL.B.)

Eugene Rice (February 21, 1891 – November 24, 1967) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

Education and career

Born in Union City, Tennessee, Rice received a Bachelor of Science degree from Hall-Moody College (now Union University) in 1910 and a Bachelor of Laws from Valparaiso University School of Law in 1917. He was in the United States Army from 1917 to 1919, where he became a quartermaster sergeant. He was an assistant county attorney of Stephens County, Oklahoma in 1920. He was a County Judge in Stephens County from 1920 to 1922. He was in private practice in Duncan, Oklahoma from 1922 to 1930. He was an Oklahoma State District Judge from 1930 to 1937.

Federal judicial service

Rice was nominated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 3, 1937, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma vacated by Judge Robert L. Williams. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 10, 1937, and received his commission on August 11, 1937. He served as Chief Judge from 1949 to 1963. He was a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States in 1958. He assumed senior status on December 1, 1963. Rice served in that capacity until his death on November 24, 1967.