Childs would bring a different set of experiences to the Supreme Court as a non-Ivy League law school graduate -- she graduated from the University of South Carolina -- and a former South Carolina labor official. The comments below have been moderated in advance. US District Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner of Georgia Gardner, 47, a federal district court judge in Georgia, is also among the many potential Supreme Court nominees. Stacey Abrams' sister floated as possible Supreme Court pick - 11Alive.com Counties | background-color: #f9d334; The bulk of the registrations that the counties sought to rescind, more than 4,000, were in Muscogee County, which Biden won handily in November. School districts | Conservatives would likely focus on her ties to her sister, voting rights activist Stacey Abrams, who ran for governor of Georgia in 2018 and was behind get-out-the-vote efforts that flipped the state blue in 2020. 'I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, I'm not going to say it's OK, being convicted of a crime I didn't commit, but we, as humans go through things for a purpose,' Gardner told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview. That chatter gained volume last year when Biden tapped her to fill now-Attorney General Merrick Garlands seat on the D.C. Jimmie Gardner was released from a West Virginia prison in 2016, 26 years after being wrongly convicted of sexual assault, robbery and unlawful entry related to break-ins that occurred in the 1980s. Gardner is several inches taller than the attacker, at 6 foot 3 inches, and points to his dark complexion. 'But no one took on the case. Get to know the top contenders for Biden's pick to the nations highest court. Gardner is the sister of Stacey Abrams who has led the effort to register voters in the state. She challenges me from a great position and I challenge her from a good position, he said. S. Todd Rogers/Pool via AP. Play it now! Sherrilyn Ifill is the head of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and another person who has support from some members of the CBC. In late December Biden nominated her for a spot on the D.C. [4][5], On March 11, 2014, President Barack Obama nominated Gardner to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Georgia, to the seat being vacated by Judge W. Louis Sands, who assumed senior status on April 12, 2014. And hes involved in multiple criminal justice reform efforts, including a seat on the board of the Georgia Innocence Project, which works to free wrongfully convicted prisoners. Ts there were no ruling, I couldn't take it to federal court. Farm Heroes Saga, the #4 Game on iTunes. A federal district court judge in Georgia, Leslie Abrams Gardner was appointed to the bench by Obama in 2014. The judge, Leslie Abrams Gardner the sister of former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, a prominent ally of President-elect Joe Biden who has led voter registration efforts across the . She graduated from Brown University before attending Yale Law School. [1] She is the first female black federal judge in Georgia. Gardner, 47, is another judge who would be making an unlikely leap from serving on a federal district court. Childs has been a federal judge in South Carolina since 2010 when she was appointed by Obama. Leslie Abrams Gardner is a federal judge for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. Justice Leslie Abrams Gardner, a federal prosecutor turned federal district court judge, has had her name . width: 57%; Instead of getting offended, Gardner said Leslie Abrams told him, Wow, you could actually be an attorney. She hesitated to tell him her job, he said, fearing his experience with the justice system would put him off. A century and a decade. Two years later, in Miami, Gardner was arrested for gun possession and the police ran his fingerprints through the system. There are comparatively few Black women in the highest reaches of the federal judiciary, though Biden has been active in bolstering those numbers as part of a broader emphasis on diversifying the courts, both in terms of demographics and professional background. .widget-row.Republican { Both women described their assaulters as a light-skinned black man with a narrow nose who was about 6 feet tall. Click here to contact us for media inquiries, and please donate here to support our continued expansion. The scene first came to him in the late 1980s, when he was playing minor league baseball. Leslie Abrams Gardner. We may earn a commission from links on this page. Kruger has written a decision that overturned a precedent and required a warrant for vehicle searches. Leslie Abrams Gardner, U.S. District Judge | Middle District of Georgia Elections in 2023 | Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner blocked two counties from purging over 4,000 voters from the rolls for Georgia's upcoming runoff elections. Everything I went through was for me to become a better person and to help other people.'. from Brown University in 1997 and her J.D. Brooke joined the Orange County Register in January 2013, covering local communities, cannabis and politics before starting on the environment beat for SCNG in July 2022. A former prosecutor nominated by Obama in 2014, she became the first Black female federal judge in Georgia, winning confirmation 100-0. Ballot measures, Who represents me? 'I like going back to prisons and telling them not to give up. Ballotpedia features 395,577 encyclopedic articles written and curated by our professional staff of editors, writers, and researchers. Zain was fired in 1993 and indicted for fraud, according to the National Registry of Exonerations at the University of Michigan. Court Personnel Leslie Abrams Gardner, U.S. District Judge Staff Information Felicia Rushing, Courtroom Deputy/Scheduling Clerk, felicia_rushing@gamd.uscourts.gov, (229) 431-2510 Chambers of Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner 201 West Broad Avenue Albany, Georgia 31701 Trial Trial: Judge Gardner's Voir Dire Questions - Civil Trials She doesn't want you to go outside, she's being protective,' Gardner said. clear: both; I dont want to discount anyone elses experience, he said. She served as an associate at the law firm of Kilpatrick Stockton LLP, from 2006 to 2007. He also formed the nonprofit Gardner House to help get people out of prison and transition back into society. [7] On June 19, 2014, her nomination was reported out of committee by voice vote. It can happen at any time. She received her bachelors degree from the University of South Florida and received both a business and law degree from the University of South Carolina. background-color: red; 'I wrote to Obama twice, the third time I wrote I got something back from Eric Holder, the US Attorney General, who explained that they couldn't review the case on as they can't get involved in state criminal matters. Three years into his sentence, other agencies started questioning the reliability of Fred Zains DNA evidence. Gardner attended the event. Shes written for dozens of newspapers and magazines across the country, with projects that have taken her from a zero gravity flight over Queens to a fishing village in Ghana. Her husband was wrongly imprisoned for 26 years for a rape and robbery he didnt commit before getting exonerated. Whether that connection, in combination with her familial relationship with Abrams Gardner, should constitute grounds for recusal, is ultimately a matter of subjective interpretation. How much damage does wrongful incarcerations have on mothers and fathers? .clearfix { Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group, Double murderer Alex Murdaugh is heckled about surviving son Buster as he leaves court to begin life sentence without parole: Judge tells him Maggie and Paul will 'visit you in your sleep' - as his lawyers plan appeal in ten days, Don Jr. calls Fetterman a 'vegetable' who should be a 'bag guy at a grocery store' NOT a Senator - after he was admitted to Walter Reed with clinical depression, Would YOU move to another state if you were paid? Now the 51-year-old has found love with Georgia District Judge Leslie Abrams, and the pair plan to marry later this year. background-color: green; Biden in April selected Ifill to serve on a panel convened to study potential changes to the high court. U.S. District Court Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner is the sister of Stacey Abrams, and ruled on a voter-registration case that was very similar to another case before a different district court in. Before being appointed to the bench, Jackson worked as an attorney at the firm Morrison & Foerster with an emphasis on appellate litigation. During his trial, both victims said that Gardner was not the man who raped them. She would be the oldest new justice since Ruth Bader Ginsburg was appointed at age 60 in 1993. A three-year-old Stacey can be seen right alongside a two-year-old Leslie center, and their older sister Andrea Abrams, aged six at the time. border: 1px solid #a2a9b1 !important; U.S. Congress | Jackson received both her undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard University. Jackson was nominated by Biden and confirmed last year by the Senate to the powerful D.C. Later this year, Gardner is opening Gardner's House, a converted newspaper building that will house up to 48 recently released convicts, giving them shelter, food and opportunities to find jobs. width: 43%; Collins stated a significant falsehood in claiming otherwise. }, Chief Judge:Marc Thomas Treadwell color: white; How those two things are related is a fascinating tale of criminal injustice involving a professional athlete whose career was stolen after he spent more than a quarter of a century in prison for crimes he didnt commit. Cities | Her brother, Walter, has been incarcerated and experienced mental health and substance abuse problems. Ifill has also been a frequent presence on cable news and in op-ed pages, particularly on issues surrounding voting rights and the crimin system. But it would take 23 years for Gardner to finally be released, being denied hearing after hearing, and he spent years writing to advocacy groups and even President Barack Obama looking for help. Leslie Abrams Gardner. padding-left: 10px; width: 100%; Whatever was offered, I took it. Circuit Court of Appeals. She was also a law firm partner, focusing on labor and employment law. Leslie Abrams Gardner - Wikipedia It will mean a long distance relationship with his wife for a few months, though he suspects shell visit often. On May 16, 1987, a man broke into the home of 82-year-old Bethel Ferrell and sexually assaulted Ferrells 60-year old daughter, Wilma Galati, in the Kanawha City section of Charleston, W.Va. Two months later, Lillian Ruckman was sexually assaulted in her home in Kanawha City. I had fingerprints, photos, stayed 90 minutes to be interrogated, they said nothing matched, and wished me well for the season. The judge said I had been held in legal purgatory for 23 years in state court and it was a complete miscarriage of justice, Gardner recalled. [16], The United States Senate confirmed Abrams on November 18, 2014, on a vote of 100-0.[3]. All of those other 100-plus cases, theyve either died off or been brushed under the rug, he said.