Terrence William Boyle (born December 22, 1945) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. He was Chief Judge of that court from 1997 to 2004. He served a second term as Chief Judge from 2018 to 2021. From 1991 to 1993 and again from 2001 to 2007, he was a nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. His federal appellate nomination from 2001 to 2007 is the longest in history not to be acted upon by the United States Senate. Education and career Born in Passaic, New Jersey, Boyle received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University in 1967 and a Juris Doctor from the Washington College of Law at American University in 1970. From 1970 to 1973, he was the minority counsel of the Housing Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Currency. In 1973, he was a legislative assistant to Republican Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina. He was in private practice in Elizabeth City, North Carolina from 1974 to 1984. Federal judicial service Boyle was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on April 4, 1984, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina vacated by Judge Franklin Taylor Dupree Jr. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 24, 1984, and received commission on May 3, 1984. He served as Chief Judge from 1997 to 2004. He served as Chief Judge once again from 2018 to 2021. First Fourth Circuit nomination On October 22, 1991, Boyle was nominated by US President George H. W. Bush to a newly-created seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, but his nomination was not acted upon by the Senate, which was controlled by the Democrats. His nomination was allowed to lapse at the end of Bush's presidency. Fourth Circuit controversies On December 24, 1995, in the hope of integrating the Fourth Circuit, US President Bill Clinton nominated James A. Beaty Jr., an African-American judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, to a Fourth Circuit seat vacated by Judge James Dickson Phillips Jr. in 1994, when he took senior status. Almost immediately, Beaty's nomination ran into opposition from Jesse Helms, who was angry that Clinton had refused to renominate