Judge Sandy Mattice has notified President Trump that he intends to step down as U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee effective March 10, 2020.
Mattice said, “It has been a great privilege to serve the people of the Eastern District of Tennessee over the past 20 years, first as U. S. attorney and later as district judge. I will always be grateful to those who gave me that opportunity.”
President George W. Bush appointed Mattice to his position Nov. 18, 2005. Before his appointment to the judiciary, Mattice served as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, October 2001-November 2005.
In that capacity, he was responsible for prosecuting federal criminal violations throughout the district’s 41 counties, which extend from Johnson County in northeastern Tennessee to Lincoln County in Middle Tennessee.
Before assuming office as U.S. attorney, Mattice was a shareholder with Baker, Donelson, Bearman & Caldwell in Chattanooga. Before that, he was a partner with Miller & Martin, also in Chattanooga.
Mattice was engaged in the general practice of law, with an emphasis in business investigations and litigation, securities, tax and regulatory law compliance and white-collar defense.
In 1997, at the request of Sen. Fred Thompson, Mattice served as senior counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs during a special investigation, and conducted nationally-televised hearings on alleged illegal and improper activities in connection with the 1996 federal election campaigns.
Mattice received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1976 from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and his juris doctor degree in 1981 from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
While in law school, he served as student materials editor for the Tennessee Law Review and was elected to Phi Kappa Phi and the Order of the Coif.
Source: Judge Mattice