{{Short description|American judge (b. 1940)}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Claude M. Hilton | honorific_suffix = | image = | alt = | caption = | office = Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia | term_start = December 31, 2005 | term_end = | office1 = Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court | term_start1 = May 19, 2000 | term_end1 = May 18, 2007 | appointer1 = William Rehnquist | predecessor1 = James Cacheris | successor1 = Roger Vinson | office2 = Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia | term_start2 = 1997 | term_end2 = 2004 | predecessor2 = James C. Cacheris | successor2 = James R. Spencer | office3 = Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia | term_start3 = July 11, 1985 | term_end3 = December 31, 2005 | appointer3 = Ronald Reagan | predecessor3 = ''Seat established by 98 Stat. 333'' | successor3 = Liam O'Grady | office4 = Commissioner in Chancery for the Circuit Court of Arlington County, Virginia | term_start4 = 1976 | term_end4 = 1985 | office5 = Commonwealth Attorney of Arlington County, Virginia | term_start5 = 1974 | term_end5 = 1975 | pronunciation = | birth_name = Claude Meredith Hilton<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U-7iAAAAMAAJ&q=Claude+Meredith+Hilton |title=Biography and Genealogy Master Index: A Consolidated Index to More Than 3,200,000 Biographical Sketches in Over 350 Current and Retrospective Biographical Dictionaries|date=2000|page=1920|isbn=9780787629953|via=Google Books|last1=Herbert|first1=Miranda C.|last2=McNeil|first2=Barbara|publisher=Gale Research Company }}</ref> | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1940|12|08}}<ref name="Congressional hearings">{{cite book|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.aa0000899864;view=2up;seq=36;skin=mobile |title=Confirmation hearings on federal appointments : hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-ninth Congress, first session, on confirmation hearings on appointments to the federal judiciary and the Department of Justice. pt.2|series=S. HRG.; 99-141 PTS. 1-4 |date=1985|page=18|via=HathiTrust Digital Library}}</ref> | birth_place = {{nowrap|Scott County, Virginia, U.S.}} | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | citizenship = | party = | other_party = | height = | spouse = Joretta Cabaniss<ref name="Congressional hearings" /> | partner = | relations = | children = | parents = | mother = | father = | relatives = | education = Ohio State University (BS)<br>American University (JD) <!--Embedded templates / Footnotes--> | footnotes = }} '''Claude Meredith Hilton''' (born December 8, 1940) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
==Education and career== Born in Scott County, Virginia, Hilton spent his earliest childhood largely outdoors on his family's farm and raised an adopted fox.<ref name="fedbar.org">{{Cite web| title=Hon. Claude M. Hilton | url=https://www.fedbar.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Profile_Hilton-pdf-1.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220111051522/https://www.fedbar.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Profile_Hilton-pdf-1.pdf | archive-date=2022-01-11}}</ref> His family later moved to Dayton, Ohio and he eventually received a Bachelor of Science degree from Ohio State University in 1963 while working as a men's clothier clerk at the Lazarus Department Store.<ref name="fedbar.org"/>
He achieved a Juris Doctor from the Washington College of Law at American University in 1966, and married his wife Joretta.<ref name="fedbar.org"/>
He was an assistant commonwealth's attorney of Arlington, Virginia, from 1967 to 1968. He was in private practice in Arlington from 1968 to 1973, was the Commonwealth's Attorney for Arlington County from 1974 to 1975, and returned to private practice from 1976 to 1985. He was also a commissioner in chancery for the Circuit Court of Arlington County from 1976 to 1985.<ref name="fjc.gov">{{cite web|url=https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/hilton-claude-m.|title=Hilton, Claude M. - Federal Judicial Center|publisher=Federal Judicial Center}}</ref>
===Federal judicial service=== On May 15, 1985, Hilton was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 10, 1985.
Hilton served as chief judge from 1997 to 2004, assuming senior status on December 31, 2005. In May 2000, Chief Justice William Rehnquist appointed Hilton as a judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). His term on the FISC expired on May 18, 2007.<ref name="fjc.gov"/>
As of December 2025, Hilton, who sat in Alexandria, appears to be inactive.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/Alexandria|title=Court Locations - Alexandria|website=vaed.uscourts.gov|access-date=2025-12-23}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{FJC Bio|nid=1382186}} * [http://votesmart.org/candidate/biography/129125/claude-hilton#.U6iCvPldV-g Project VoteSmart]
{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=Seat established by 98 Stat. 333}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia}}|years=1985–2005}} {{s-aft|after=Liam O'Grady}} {{s-bef|before=James C. Cacheris}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia}}|years=1997–2004}} {{s-aft|after=James R. Spencer}} {{s-bef|before=James Cacheris}} {{s-ttl|title=Judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court|years=2000–2007}} {{s-aft|after=Roger Vinson}} {{s-end}} {{United States 4th Circuit senior district judges}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hilton, Claude M.}} Category:1940 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century American judges Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia Category:Judges of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Category:Ohio State University alumni Category:United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan Category:Virginia lawyers Category:American University Washington College of Law alumni