Ronnie L. White
| Ronnie Lee White | |
|---|---|
| Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri | |
|
Assumed office July 17, 2014 |
|
| Appointed by | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Jean Constance Hamilton |
| Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri | |
|
In office July 1, 2003 – June 30, 2005 |
|
| Preceded by | Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Michael A. Wolff |
| Justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri | |
|
In office October 1995 – July 6, 2007 |
|
| Appointed by | Mel Carnahan |
| Preceded by | Elwood L. Thomas |
| Succeeded by | Patricia Breckenridge |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Ronnie Lee White May 31, 1953 St. Louis, Missouri |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Education |
St. Louis Community College A.A. Saint Louis University B.A. University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law J.D. |
Ronnie Lee White (born May 31, 1953) is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and a former Missouri Supreme Court judge.
White received an Associate of Arts degree from St. Louis Community College in 1977 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree Saint Louis University in 1979. He earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Missouri–Kansas City in 1983. He worked as a public defender in St. Louis and an attorney in various other government offices and was elected as a Democratic member of the Missouri House of Representatives, where he served for six years. In 1993, he was appointed as a City Counselor for St. Louis City. In May 1994, Governor Mel Carnahan appointed him a judge for the Eastern District of the Missouri Court of Appeals. Carnahan appointed White to the Supreme Court of Missouri in October 1995. He was the court's first African-American Chief Justice, from 2003 to 2005. White retired from the court on July 6, 2007 and was succeeded by Judge Patricia Breckenridge.
In 1997, President Bill Clinton nominated White for a United States district court seat. White's nomination passed the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, but ran into resistance from then-Senator John Ashcroft in 1999. Ashcroft claimed White was "pro-criminal" due to White's opinions in death penalty cases before the Supreme Court and cited opposition from Missouri police associations that were later discovered to be all-white. Carnahan and other Democrats criticized Republican opposition to the nomination, and it quickly became embroiled with racial overtones and an issue in the United States Senate election in Missouri the following year. On October 5, 1999, White's nomination failed in a 54-45, party-line vote in the full Senate. Ashcroft's opposition to White hurt him both in the 2000 Senate election (which he narrowly lost for a variety of reasons) and during his confirmation hearings when he was appointed United States Attorney General.
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