Robert Lewis Hinkle is a United States federal judge. 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. He was in private practice, first in Atlanta, Georgia from 1977 to 1978, then in Tallahassee, Florida from 1978 to 1996. He was an Adjunct professor of law, Florida State University in 1981. Hinkle is a federal judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida. Hinkle was nominated by President Bill Clinton on June 6, 1996, to a seat vacated by William H. Stafford, Jr. 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, Judge Robert Hinkle issued a ruling in Brenner v. Scott case that denied the state defendants' motion to dismiss and granted the same-sex couple plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction. 

January 1st, 1951 in Apalachicola (Age 73)