Robert Chamberlin

On August 13, 2025, President Trump nominated Robert Chamberlin to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. He was confirmed on December 9, 2025.

View/download the fact sheet here.
View/download our letter of opposition here.

Biography 

Robert Chamberlin earned his B.A. from the University of Mississippi in 1987 and his J.D. from the University of Mississippi Law Center in 1990.

Legal Experience 

Robert Chamberlin entered private practice with the Austin Law Firm — also known as Tollison, Austin, and Twiford — where he worked as a law associate from 1990 to 1994 before becoming a law partner (1994–2001).

He began his judicial service as a Municipal Judge for the City of Hernando (1991–1999) and later served as Municipal Prosecutor for the City of Horn Lake (1992). In the mid-1990s, he was appointed Special Master for the Chancery Court of Mississippi’s Third District.

He later co-founded Chamberlin & Nowak, P.C., serving as a law partner from 2001 to 2004, while also acting as Board Counsel to the DeSoto County Board of Supervisors (2001–2004).

In 2000, he was elected to the Mississippi State Senate, representing District 1 until 2004. He then transitioned to the bench as a Circuit Court Judge for Mississippi’s Seventeenth Judicial District, where he presided over a wide range of civil and criminal matters for more than a decade (2004–2017).

In 2017, he was appointed Associate Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court, where he continues to serve today.

Key Facts  

Justice Chamberlin served as a Republican member of the Mississippi State Senate from 2000 to 2004. During this time, he sponsored and supported legislation reflecting socially conservative priorities, including measures to restrict same-sex marriage (2004), expand abortion restrictions (2004), implement voter identification requirements (2004), authorize a “Choose Life” license plate (2002), mandate “In God We Trust” in classrooms (2001), and prohibit adoption by gay couples (2000). He also supported legislation shielding gun manufacturers from certain lawsuits.

On November 24, 2004, Chamberlin was appointed as a Circuit Court Judge by Governor Haley Barbour, serving until his election to the Mississippi Supreme Court in November 2016. As a justice, he has authored and joined opinions upholding legislative decisions on issues such as taxpayer standing in school funding challenges (2018, Midsouth Association of Independent Schools v. Parents for Public Schools) and the creation of a special court system in Jackson (2023, Saunders v. Mississippi).

Chamberlin’s legislative record and judicial opinions consistently advance policies that go against our mission.