31, 2002. Honors and Distinctions In 2021, Gibbons received the Devitt Award, the highest honor awarded to an Article III judge, for distinguished career and significant contributions to the administration of justice, the advancement of the rule of law, and the improvement of society as a whole. In 2017, she received the Pillars of Excellence Award from the University of Memphis Law Alumni Association. In 2015, she received the King's Award from Carnival Memphis. In 2000, she was selected by the Memphis Bar Association to receive the Heroine for Women in the Law Award. In 1992, she was selected by the Association for Women Attorneys to receive the Marion Griffin-Frances Loring Award. In 1992, she was selected by Girls, Inc. to receive the "She Knows Where She's Going" award. In 1985 and 2001, she was selected by Memphis attorneys to receive Outstanding Judge of the Year Award. Gibbons was appointed by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist to chair the Budget Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States in January 2005. She served in that position until January 2018 and testified before Congress on behalf of the judiciary 16 times. From 2000 to 2003, Gibbons was a member of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. From 1994 to 1999, Gibbons was chair of the Judicial Resources Committee of the Judicial Conference. Notable Cases Gibbons wrote a concurring opinion in a 2-1 decision upholding Biden Administration COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal employees and contractors. In her concurrence, Gibbons highlighted the limited role of the federal judiciary in COVID policy. Personal Gibbons has been married since 1973 to Bill Gibbons, who is the former District Attorney General of Shelby County, Tennessee, the county that contains Memphis. Bill Gibbons was a 2010 Republican gubernatorial candidate for the state of Tennessee. They have two adult children. In 2003, she discussed her views on women in the judiciary at a University of Virginia School of Law event. References External links 1950 births 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges American women lawyers Living people Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee People from Pulaski, Tennessee United States court of appeals judges appointed by George W. Bush United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan University of Virginia School of Law alumni Vanderbilt University alumni 20th-century American