New Chief Judge of Fifth Circuit

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Chief Judge Edith Jones (Wikipedia still thinks she has her old job, and I don't have the time to fix it.) stepped down early from her term as chief judge, citing family reasons. She's still going to stay on the court. The new Chief Judge is Carl E. Stewart of Shreveport, Louisiana. Getting to be Chief Judge is a kind of seniority process. Immediately following admission to the Louisiana Bar Association in October 1974, he entered the Army and was stationed at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. He was a Judge Advocate General's captain until October 1977. After leaving the military, Stewart served as:

• a Staff Attorney with the Louisiana Attorney General's Office,
• an Assistant United States Attorney,
• a Special Assistant City and District Attorney, and
• a private practitioner.

In 1985, he became a District Judge in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, and was reelected without opposition five years later. In 1991, again without opposition, he was elected to the Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal. President William J. Clinton appointed Judge Stewart as United States Circuit Judge on May 9,
1994. Judge Stewart is the second African American appointed to the Fifth Circuit.

It'll Likely Be a Good Complaint Some Day, But No Time Soon

Fifth Circuit Judge Fortunado P. Benevides, writing for a panel including Carl E. Stewart and Leslie Southwick, reinforced the circuit's view that a district court may
impose a federal sentence that runs consecutively to an undischarged state
sentence. The Eighth, Tenth and Eleventh Circuits agree with the Fives. The government, along with the Second, Fourth, Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits, take the opposite side. Last year Fifth Circuit Judges Priscilla Owen and James L. Dennis even indicated that they didn't like the ruling. A circuit split like this may well interest the Supreme Court of the United States.