Meet Judge Carl E. Stewart of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (5th Cir.)

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release January 27, 1994

PRESIDENT NAMES TEN FEDERAL JUDGES

President Clinton today nominated ten individuals to serve on
the federal bench, four for the U.S. Courts of Appeals and six for
the U.S. District Courts, representing the states of California,
Illinois, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island and South Carolina.

Diana Motz of Maryland was nominated to the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the President named three
individuals to the Fifth Circuit: Fortunato “Pete” Benavides and
Robert M. Parker of Texas, and Carl E. Stewart of Louisiana.

CARL E. STEWART

Nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit

Carl Stewart, who sits on Louisiana’s Second Court of Appeal,
has served as an accomplished judge, attorney, prosecutor and
professor. His vast trial experience includes work in civil
rights, loan sharking, election fraud, embezzlement and school
desegregation. Stewart, who has been honored by many groups for
his outstanding commitment to community service, would become the
first African-American ever to serve on the Fifth Circuit as it is
currently constituted.

Stewart was born to Corine and Richard Stewart, a postal
worker, in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1950. As a teenager in the
1960’s, Stewart witnessed the civil rights struggle of the era,
and saw how the legal system could be used to bring about positive
social change. Stewart was inspired by what he saw and decided to
dedicate his life to helping people through the legal system. He
graduated from Dillard University in New Orleans cum laude in 1971
and earned his law degree from Loyola University in 1974.

Later that year, Stewart entered the U.S. Army in the Judge
Advocate General’s Corps. As a captain, he served as a defense
attorney for soldiers at Fort Sam Houston in Texas. After an
honorable discharge, Stewart worked as an associate in a small
private law firm. He joined a field office of the Louisiana
Attorney General in 1978.

In 1979, Stewart became an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and
worked on a wide variety of cases. He prosecuted a loan shark who
preyed on the poor, a sheriff who paid for votes during a re-
election bid, and an unscrupulous land owner who filed false flood
relief claims with the federal government. Stewart received a
letter of commendation from the Justice Department for his work on
a civil rights case in 1982 and 1983.

Stewart left the Justice Department in 1983 to go into
private practice in Shreveport, and work as an Adjunct Professor
at Louisiana State University. In 1985, he won election to a six-
year term as a District Judge in Louisiana. At the conclusion of
the term, Stewart was elected to his present position on the
state’s Second Circuit Court of Appeal.

In 1989, Stewart was praised for his judicial performance.
The Shreveport Journal, which sponsored the survey of judges,
declared that Stewart had “nearly swe[pt] the ratings.” One local
attorney described Stewart as “a splendid judge, excellent in
every respect.” Other attorneys lauded his “fine judicial
manner,” his fairness and concern for “judicial economy.”
Stewart, one attorney said, “is careful to treat all parties with
the same attitude and concern.”

Throughout his career, Stewart has been active in a wide
array of professional and community organizations. He has been
honored with awards from the Boy Scouts of America and the Carver
Branch YMCA. Stewart also was named Louisiana Outstanding Young
Man of the Year by the Louisiana Chapter of the Jaycees and won
the Black Leader of the Year award from the Southern University
Shreveport-Bossier Afro-American Society.

Stewart frequently addresses student and professional groups,
emphasizing the importance of educational achievement and
community service, and the need for African-American role models
in business and public service. Stewart is also a lay leader of
the Louisiana United Methodist Conference.

Stewart has been married for 21 years to Jo Ann Southall
Stewart, a registered nurse who works with school children who
have substance abuse problems. They have three children.
Stewart’s two brothers also are distinguished attorneys: Captain
Richard G. Stewart, Jr., is a Force Judge Advocate in the U.S.
Navy, and Judge James E. Stewart, Sr., serves on Louisiana’s
District Court.

If confirmed, Stewart would become one of seventeen judges on
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which reviews
appeals from Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.