Judge Hardin-Tammons sworn in

By: Staff Report March 17, 2023

Mary Rhodes Russell (left) holds up her right hand and Renee Hardin-Tammons (right), facing her, does the same as other judges in robes sit behind a bench in the background

Missouri Supreme Court Judge Mary Rhodes Russell administers the oath of office to Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District Judge Renee Hardin-Tammons during a March 16 en banc ceremony. (Photo by T.L. Witt)

Judge Renée Hardin-Tammons was formally sworn into the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District on March 16.

Retired St. Louis City Circuit Court Judge Michael Mullen served as master of ceremonies in the Eastern District’s En Banc Courtroom in the Old Post Office. Eastern District Chief Judge Michael E. Gardner presided, and Missouri Supreme Court Judge Mary R. Russell administered the oath of office.

L. Brandi Wilkes, a former St. Louis County Circuit clerk, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner Senior Counsel Jerry Hunter, and Judge Becky Borthwick of the Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District spoke at the event, as well as Hardin-Tammons’ son, Charles R. Tammons, Jr.

Gov. Mike Parson first named her to the bench to fill the vacancy of Judge Colleen Dolan’s retirement.

Before her appointment to the Eastern District, Hardin-Tammons served as circuit judge for the St. Louis County Circuit Court for three years after serving as an associate circuit judge for two years.

Andrew Bailey holds up a cookbook while speaking in front of a microphone

Andrew Bailey holds up Judge Renee Hardin-Tammons’ 2007 cookbook while speaking at her investiture ceremony on March 16. Hardin-Tammons is the newest judge appointed to the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District. (Photo by T.L. Witt)

She also served as a municipal judge for the city of Berkeley and the St. Louis County municipal court. She is a past president and member of the Missouri Municipal and Associate Circuit Judges Association. The Missouri Supreme Court has appointed her to its committee on practice and procedure in municipal division cases and its criminal justice task force.

In 2007, while balancing a private practice and her role as a municipal judge, she wrote “I’m Guilty of Loving Southern Cooking, A Soul Food Cookbook” and began marketing a wing sauce in 2014. She is a certified Kansas City Barbecue Society judge.

She ran a private practice from 1998 to 2017 as a solo attorney and later at Dubail Judge in St. Louis. She also worked in the St. Louis County public defender’s office and the counselor’s office.

Hardin-Tammons earned her law degree from the University of Missouri.

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