Jennifer B. Coffman

Jennifer B. Coffman (born January 8, 1948) is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky and the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. Education and career Born in Union City, Tennessee, Coffman received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Kentucky in 1969, a Master of Science from the same institution in 1971, and a Juris Doctor from the University of Kentucky College of Law in 1978. She was in private practice in Lexington, Kentucky from 1977 to 1993, also teaching as an adjunct instructor at the University of Kentucky College of Law from 1979 to 1981. Federal judicial service On August 6, 1993, Coffman was nominated by President Bill Clinton to a joint appointment to both the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky and the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, both seats having been vacated by Eugene Edward Siler Jr., who had been elevated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on September 20, 1991. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 30, 1993, and received her commission on October 1, 1993. She served as the Chief Judge of the Eastern District from 2007 to 2012. She also served a seven-year term on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court starting in 2011 until she retired from all of her appointments, effective January 8, 2013. She was the first female judge appointed to the federal courts in Kentucky, and as of 2020 Coffman is the last judge appointed by a Democratic president to the Eastern District of Kentucky.