Carl Stewart
1994 - Present
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Carl E. Stewart is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. He first joined the court in 1994 after being nominated by President Bill Clinton (D). He was chief judge from October 1, 2012, to October 1, 2019.[1][2]
Early life and education
A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, Stewart graduated from Dillard University with his bachelor's degree in 1971 and from Loyola University New Orleans School of Law with his J.D. in 1974.[1]
Military career
Judge Graves served in the U.S. Army JAG Corps from 1975 to 1977. He attained the rank of captain.[1]
Professional career
- 1994 - Present: Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit
- 2012-2019: Chief judge
- 1991-1994: Judge, Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal
- 1985-1991: Judge, First Judicial District Court of Louisiana
- 1983-1985: Private practice, Shreveport, La.
- 1979-1983: Assistant U.S. attorney, Western District of Louisiana
- 1978-1979: Staff attorney, Office of the Attorney General of Louisiana
- 1977-1978: Private practice, Shreveport, La.[1]
Judicial career
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
 |
| Nominee Information |
| Name: Carl E. Stewart |
| Court: United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit |
| Progress |
| Confirmed 99 days after nomination. |
 Nominated: January 27, 1994
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| ABA Rating: Substantial Majority Qualified, Minority Well Qualified
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| Questionnaire: |
| Hearing: April 21, 1994
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| QFRs: (Hover over QFRs to read more) |
| Reported: May 5, 1994
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| Confirmed: May 6, 1994
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| Vote: Voice vote
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Stewart was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit by President Bill Clinton (D) on January 27, 1994, to a new seat created by 104 Stat. 5089. The American Bar Association rated Stewart Substantial Majority Qualified, Minority Well Qualified for the nomination.[3] Hearings on Stewart's nomination were held before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary on April 21, 1994, and his nomination was reported by then-U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) on May 5, 1994. Stewart was confirmed on a voice vote of the U.S. Senate on May 6, 1994, and he received his commission on May 9, 1994. He was the chief judge of the Fifth Circuit from 2012 to 2019.[1][4]
Noteworthy cases
Federal appeals court finds FHFA structure unconstitutional (2018)
On July 16, 2018, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held in Collins v. Mnuchin that the structure of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is unconstitutional because it is led by a single director who is only removable by the president for cause. The panel consisted of Chief Judge Carl Stewart and Judges Catharina Haynes and Don Willett.[5][6]
In Collins v. Mnuchin, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders presented the following complaints:
- A 2012 dividend agreement between the FHFA and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which rendered their shares valueless, exceeded the statutory authority of the FHFA and the Treasury Department.
- The FHFA was unconstitutionally structured because it was headed by a single director who was only removable for cause and it did not depend on congressional appropriations.[5][6]
A district court dismissed the shareholders’ complaints. In a split per curiam decision, however, the Fifth Circuit panel reversed the decision on the grounds that the structure of the FHFA violates the separation of powers because the agency’s director is too insulated from presidential control. The court struck the language from HERA that only allowed the president to dismiss the FHFA director for good cause. Though the panel found the FHFA structure unconstitutional, they upheld the statutory authority of FHFA and Treasury Department to enter into the dividend agreement.[5][7]
Both the plaintiffs and the FHFA filed petitions for rehearing en banc—before the full Fifth Circuit—in August 2018. The court heard arguments en banc on January 23, 2019.[8][9]
In a July 9, 2019, letter, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) asked the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold for-cause removal protections.[10] The FHFA told the court that the agency’s new director, Mark A. Calabria, had reconsidered the constitutionality of the agency’s structure.[10] The agency’s interim director, Joseph Otting, had decided not to defend the structure of the agency, but Calabria argued that the court should rule that the U.S. Constitution allows Congress to create agencies with single directors insulated from presidential control.[10]
Fifth Circuit strikes political bingo money ban (2014)
In July 2014, the Fifth Circuit, sitting en banc, affirmed a federal district court opinion overturning a Texas ban on charities' spending of bingo proceeds on political speech as unconstitutional under the First Amendment. Chief Judge Stewart wrote the opinion, noting that Texas "fail[ed] to identify a compelling state interest."
Articles:
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Federal Judicial Center, "Biographical directory of federal judges," accessed September 10, 2016
- ↑ 11 Alive, "First black chief judge appointed to US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals," October 1, 2012
- ↑ American Bar Association, "Ratings of Article III judicial nominees, 103rd Congress," accessed September 10, 2016
- ↑ United States Congress, "PN1041 — Carl E. Stewart — The Judiciary," accessed September 10, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Law.com, "Federal Housing Finance Agency, 'Not Accountable to the President,' Deemed Unconstitutionally Structured," July 17, 2018
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Reason, "Federal Court Holds FHFA Unconstitutional," July 16, 2018
- ↑ United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, "Collins v. Mnuchin," July 16, 2018
- ↑ The National Law Review, "Petitions for Rehearing En Banc Filed in Fifth Circuit Decision Finding FHFA Is Unconstitutionally Structured," September 6, 2018
- ↑ Constitutional Accountability Center, "Collins v. Mnuchin, accessed February 1, 2019
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Federal Housing Finance Agency, "Letter Re: Collins et al. v. Mnuchin et al., No. 17-20364 (en banc oral argument held January 23, 2019)," July 9, 2019
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit 1994-Present |
Succeeded by - |
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|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 |
Adams • Ambrose • Barnes • Brinkema • Bucklew • Chasanow • Coffman • Daughtrey • Ferguson • Ginsburg • Hagen • Jackson • Lancaster • Leval • Lindsay • Messitte • Michael • Piersol • Saris • Schwartz • Seybert • Shanahan • Shaw • Stearns • Trager • Vazquez • Wilken • Wilson | ||
| 1994 |
Baer • Barkett • Batts • Beaty • Benavides • Bennett • Berrigan • Biery • Block • Borman • Breyer • Briones • Bryson • Bucklo • Burgess • Burrage • Cabranes • Calabresi • Carr • Casellas • Castillo • Chatigny • Chin • Cindrich • Coar • Collins • Cooper • Cote • Currie • Davis • Dominguez • Downes • Duval • Friedman • Furgeson • Garcia • Gertner • Gettleman • Gillmor • Gilmore • Gleeson • Haggerty • Hamilton • Hannah • Hawkins • Henry • Holmes • Hood • Hull • Hurley • Jack • Jones • Jones • Kaplan • Katz • Kern • Kessler • Koeltl • Lisi • Manning • McKee • McLaughlin • Melancon • Miles-LaGrange • Moore • Motz • Murphy • O'Malley • O'Meara • Oliver • Paez • B. Parker • F. Parker • R. Parker • Perry • Ponsor • Pooler • Porteous • Rendell • Riley • Robertson • Rogers • Ross • Russell • Sands • Sarokin • Scheindlin • Silver • Squatrito • Stewart • Sullivan • Tatel • Thompson • Timlin • Urbina • Vanaskie • Vance • Walls • Wells • Williams | ||
| 1995 |
Arterton • Atlas • Black • Blake • Briscoe • Tena Campbell • Todd Campbell • Chesney • Cole • Collier • Daniel • Davis • Dennis • Dlott • Donald • Duffy • Economus • Evans • Fallon • Folsom • Gaughan • Goodwin • Heartfield • Hunt • Illston • Jones • King • Kornmann • Lawson • Lenard • Lucero • Lynch • McKinley • Moody • Moore • Moskowitz • Murphy • Murtha • Nugent • O'Toole • Orlofsky • Pogue • Sessions • C. Smith • O. Smith • Stein • Thornburg • Tunheim • Wallach • Wardlaw • Webber • Whaley • Winmill • Wood | ||
| 1996 |
Broadwater • Clevert • Fenner • Gershon • Gottschall • Greenaway • Hinkle • Jones • Kahn • Laughrey • Lemmon • Marten • Miller • Molloy • Montgomery • Pregerson • Rakoff • Sargus • Tashima • Thomas • Zapata | ||
| 1997 |
Adelman • Bataillon • Breyer • Caputo • Casey • Chambers • Clay • Damrell • Droney • Friedman • Gajarsa • Garland • Gilman • Gold • Gwin • Hall • Hayden • Hull • Ishii • Jenkins • Kauffman • Kennedy • Kimball • Kollar-Kotelly • Lazzara • Marbley • Marcus • Middlebrooks • Miller • Moon • Pratt • Rendell • Sippel • Siragusa • Snyder • Thrash | ||
| 1998 |
Aiken • Barbier • Barzilay • Berman • Buttram • Carter • Collins • Dawson • Dimitrouleas • Fletcher • Fogel • Frank • Graber • Hellerstein • Herndon • James • Johnson • Kane • Kelly • G. King • R. King • Lasnik • Lee • Lemelle • Lindsay • Lipez • Manella • Matz • McCuskey • McKeown • McMahon • Mickle • Mollway • Mordue • Moreno • Morrow • Munley • Murphy • Pallmeyer • Pauley • Polster • Pooler • Rawlinson • Ridgway • R. Roberts • V. Roberts • Sack • Scott • Seitz • Seymour • Shea • Silverman • Sleet • Sotomayor • Steeh • Story • Straub • Tagle • Tarnow • Trauger • Traxler • Tyson • Wardlaw • Whelan • Young | ||
| 1999 |
Alsup • Barry • Brown • Buchwald • Cooper • Eaton • Ellison • Feess • Fisher • Gould • Guzman • Haynes • Hibbler • Hochberg • Hurd • Huvelle • Jordan • Katzmann • Kennelly • Linn • Lorenz • Lynn • Marrero • Murguia • Pannell • Pechman • Pepper • Phillips • Schreier • Stewart • Underhill • Ward • Williams • Wilson | ||
| 2000 |
Ambro • Antoon • Battani • Berzon • Bolton • Brady • Bye • Cavanaugh • Daniels • Darrah • Dawson • Dyk • Fuentes • Garaufis • Garcia-Gregory • Hamilton • Huck • Hunt • Lawson • Lefkow • Lynch • Martin • McLaughlin • Moody • Murguia • Paez • Pisano • Presnell • Rawlinson • Reagan • Schiller • Singal • Steele • Surrick • Swain • Tallman • Teilborg • Tucker • Whittemore | ||
