Millions of men out of work and lonely. Click here to contact our editorial staff, and click here to report an error. Gardner is the sister of Stacey Abrams who has led the effort to register voters in the state. 'I like going back to prisons and telling them not to give up. 'I stand at 6ft 3in and I'm very dark-skinned. [7], President Joe Biden (D) did not announce a list of nominees he was considering. REVEALED: 'Fragile' Justin Bieber was 'FORCED to cancel his tour' by doctors amid fears for his health after Ramsay Hunt syndrome diagnosis: 'Hailey and his family have been so worried', New York Times reporter was SPAT on after 'being recognized in public' after paper's own reporters and woke Hollywood A-listers criticized its trans coverage, Meet the band! Kruger clerked for the late Justice John Paul Stevens and Judge David Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. I dont want to discount anyone elses experience, he said. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the president certainly stands by his campaign commitment. Many felt it was inappropriate for Gardner to rule on the case, a concern that was Thats how long some people thought it would take before a black woman even came close to the governorship in notoriously conservative Georgia. Gardner, pictured with Georgia Governor candidate Stacey Abrams, said he and Leslie's relationship has the support of their families, In 2015, when Leslie Abrams was being sworn in as a US District Judge in Georgia, her older sister Stacey posted a throwback photo of them together. I felt like I was 13 years old. Then Zain claimed the man identified by one of the victims couldnt have been her attacker. The judge released him April 1, 2016 on a $10,000 bond. U.S. District Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner's ruling comes after two counties voted to remove a tranche of voters' names from their rosters after two separate complaints alleged that publicly . Published: 12:37 EST, 24 May 2018 | Updated: 13:48 EST, 24 May 2018. Police interviewed all of the black players on the Charleston Wheelers, including Gardner, as part of their investigation. In January, 2020, he sat in the audience as his wife gave the keynote speech during the Fowler School of Laws annual Law Review Symposium. Leslie J. Abrams was a U.S. attorney until she was nominated by President Barack Obama for a federal judgeship in Georgia's Middle District. Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner, serves on Georgia's district court and is the sister of the voting-rights advocate Stacey Abrams. Ifill, 59, came back to helm the LDF in 2013 after two decades teaching at the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore. You have to be willing to fight and lose the battle sometimes in order to win the war.. State legislature | Leslie, 43, is the sister of Stacey Abrams, 44, who became the first black female gubernatorial nominee ever in the United States when she won the Democratic primary in Georgia on Tuesday and. While he was in prison, Gardner started hatching a plan to become a motivational speaker. Prior to her confirmation to the court, she was an assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Georgia. Leslie J. Abrams was a U.S. attorney until she was nominated by President Barack Obama for a federal judgeship in Georgias Middle District. She graduated from Brown University before attending Yale Law School. 'You'd want to be carrying your steel [homemade knife] rather than be without it. He grew up in Tampa, Fl., where he earned good grades and was a standout on his high school baseball team. 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. Sentencing Commission for several years as its vice chair. Turner was one of those targeted voters. --With assistance from Jordan Rubin and Ellen Gilmer. He started sharing his story, with no idea the woman he was speaking to was a federal judge. A couple months later, another Charleston woman was assaulted in her home by a man with a similar description. Kevin Lamarque/Pool via AP. The pair got married in November 2018, and he said, Its just been wonderful ever since. But Gardner was impressed with her accomplishments and more than a bit smitten. .widget-img { Six months later, as university President Daniele Struppa committed to new diversity initiatives aimed at better supporting students of color on campus in the wake of George Floyds death, Gardner was invited to share his experience during a virtual town hall. Abrams Gardner's reasoning can be examined in the ruling itself. In her most prominent case, she ruled in 2019 that former White House counsel Don McGahn had to testify at a House impeachment hearing. Prior to her confirmation last summer, Jackson served as a federal district court judge from 2013 through 2021. In 2012, he filed his own petition for relief in federal court, knowing full well that it would likely be denied since he technically hadnt exhausted his options in state court. The case involving Abrams and Fair Fight was overseen by a different judge in a different court. Gardner said it was likely 'dangerous' for Cochran to be helping him due to his connection to the white supremacist group, but they had 'respect for each other'. Gardner was one of eight kids born in Georgia to a dad who built houses and a mom who worked for a sewing thread manufacturer. He added: 'I learned the law through Marcus Cochran, he taught me how to review cases, he was a member of the brotherhood. On the night of Stacey Abram's victory against Stacey Evans, Gardner and the candidate's younger sister Leslie were right by her side in Atlanta, While working alongside schools and prisons in Georgia, Gardner (right) met his future wife Leslie (left) at a gathering of black female judges, Gardner and Leslie, pictured with a friend at the 2018 Innocence Project Gala in May, plan to get married later this year. font-weight: bold; } One name being discussed nationally is the sister of Georgia politician Stacey Abrams. Georgia federal Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner, 47, the sister of two-time Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, and California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger, 45, are also. She is the daughter of a Jamaican immigrant mother and a Jewish father, both pediatricians. The Big Bear native got her start teaching high school English and journalism in Riverside County but left in 2006 to be a student again herself, earning a masters degree in journalism from New York University. Both are supportive of Stacey Abrams candidacy and were right by her side when she won the Georgia Democratic nomination for governor after Tuesdays primary.

} text-align: center; Dan Mac Guill is a former writer for Snopes. Read More: A Supreme Court Path for Potential Black Female Nominee. 

float:right; if(document.getElementsByClassName("reference").length==0) if(document.getElementById('Footnotes')!==null) document.getElementById('Footnotes').parentNode.style.display = 'none'; .succession-table th, .succession-table tr { The scene first came to him in the late 1980s, when he was playing minor league baseball. She graduated from Brown University and Yale Law School and, as a private attorney, represented big corporations including Alphabet Inc.s Google and Bank of America Corp.  Leslie Joyce Abrams was nominated by President Barack Obama to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia on March 11, 2014. She received a Juris Doctor in 2002 from Yale Law School. From October 2016 to October 2017, with support from family and advocates, he volunteered to share his story and to advocate for social justice reform everywhere he could. A federal district court judge in Georgia, Leslie Abrams Gardner was appointed to the bench by Obama in 2014. He was drafted by the Chicago Cubs and played for a West Virginia farm team, the Charleston Wheelers, in the Minor League. background-color: white;  Prior to that she was a state court trial judge after previously serving as a commissioner on the South Carolina Workers Compensation Commission and a deputy director at the state Department of Labor. The Muscogee County Board of Elections determined that Russell's challenge was probably valid, and contacted those 4,033 "targeted voters" to inform them they could only cast provisional ballots, and would have to provide proof of residency. 	word-wrap: break-word; The case in question was Majority Forward and Gamaliel Warren Turner vs. Ben Hill County Board of Elections et al. 'Baseball was going to be my future, God willing. 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I've met her sisters, mother, father, her family are extraordinary, remarkable, her parents are ministers in Mississippi and I got their approval. } 'She's very experienced - numerous years in political spectrum,' Gardner said. .infobox p { Gardner is the sister of Stacey Abrams who has led the effort to register voters in the state. 	float: right; Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner; Judge Clay D. Land; Judge Tilman E. (Tripp) Self; Sr. Judge Hugh Lawson; Sr. Judge W. Louis Sands; Sr. Judge C. Ashley Royal; Mag Judge M. Stephen Hyles; Mag Judge Thomas Q. Langstaff; Mag Judge Charles H. Weigle; For Attorneys. It will mean a long distance relationship with his wife for a few months, though he suspects shell visit often. During the retirement announcement, Biden said that: "The person I will nominate will be someone of extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity. acquitted of the charges related to Ruckman. Justice Stephen Breyers retirement announcement gives President Joe Biden the chance to fulfill his campaign promise to put the first Black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court. She was appointed by former California Governor Jerry Brown and is the second-ever Black woman on that states Supreme Court. 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. She also occasionally teaches community college and writes nonfiction, with her co-authored book Stealing from the Worlds Best Schools available now wherever books are sold. Two years later, in Miami, Gardner was arrested for gun possession and the police ran his fingerprints through the system. On Feb. 1, 1990, a jury acquitted Gardner on charges of attacking the second victim, but convicted him of assaulting and robbing the first two women.  [1] She is the first female black federal judge in Georgia. Its funny because I was explaining to her how the law worked in my case, Gardner says. } However her prospects are complicated by being the sister of Democratic voting rights activist and Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. Gardner, 47, is another judge who would be making an unlikely leap from serving on a federal district court. Before that she worked as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's . After his year of service ended, Gardner started a for-profit company called J.C. Gardner Speaks. She is also a former assistant federal public defender in D.C. and clerked for several jurists  including Breyer. } She also has experience working at the Supreme Court as a clerk to former Justice John Paul Stevens. Both said that their attacker was lighter than Gardner. Gardner wasn't incarcerated until years later when officers took DNA from him again during questioning, Gardner, is pictured above second from left at the Mount Olive Correctional Complex in 2002. In late December Biden nominated her for a spot on the D.C. Just because the courts arent hearing me, Im not going to stop.. The D.C. | She also spent several years working in the private sector, mostly for the firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and was a federal law clerk in Maryland early in her career.  	margin-bottom: 0; Once he graduates, Gardner hopes he might get a talk show or podcast that will help him bring his message to a bigger audience. Police believed the two crimes were linked, so they questioned more than 100 tall black men in the area. [9] On Tuesday, November 18, 2014 the Senate confirmed her nomination by a 1000 vote. On Dec. 23, Majority Forward challenged the actions of Muscogee and Ben Hill counties, and filed for a temporary restraining order on Dec. 27. 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. Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51, has been widely considered the early frontrunner for any Supreme Court vacancy under Biden. Both women described their assaulters as a light-skinned black man with a narrow nose who was about 6 feet tall. In 1993 the West Virginia Supreme Court found that Zain had a long history of falsifying evidence in criminal prosecutions. An investigation concluded that Zains pattern and practice of misconduct completely undermined the validity and reliability of any forensic work he performed or reported and that as a matter of law, any testimonial or documentary evidence offered by Zain at any time in any criminal prosecution should be deemed invalid, unreliable, and inadmissible  . The Chicago Cubs drafted Gardner straight out of high school in 1984 for their affiliated minor league teams.  To make a donation to Gardner's House, please email admin@jcgardnerspeaks.com. Gardner claimed he has seen a dozen murders and hundreds other die from inhuman conditions during his time in correctional facilities. .widget-row.value-only.white { Postal Service's National Change of Address database, Roberts contended that those voters had moved out of the state and were therefore no longer eligible to vote in Ben Hill County. On the nomination: Abrams was rated Majority Qualified, Minority Not Qualified by the American Bar Association. She studied at Vassar College and earned her law degree from New York University. 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. One victim chose another suspect in the lineup. Kruger has held several high-ranking posts at the Department of Justice, While the polls in Georgia officially closed at 7 p.m., the window of opportunity for Stacey. But Collins undoubtedly erred when he claimed that "Stacey Abramss sister is ruling on a case in which her own sister is a party!". 	font-weight: bold; Even though he knew of this discovery, Gardner would spend another 23 years in prison. [10] She received her judicial commission on November 20, 2014.[5]. 'The victims said the perpetrator had a light complexion, Afro-American and 6ft tall,' Gardner said. .widget-row.value-only.black { Abrams is the leader of Fair Fight Action, . [15] The Senate Judiciary Committee reported Abrams to the full Senate on June 19, 2014, on a voice vote. Cochran was in prison for gang-related offenses and was part of the Aryan Brotherhood, a neo-Nazi white supremacist group. Despite the fact that Gardner is 6 feet 4, has a wide nose and is dark-skinned, Fred Zain, who examined blood for the West Virginia State Police, said that Gardners blood and fingerprints matched the blood and fingerprints that were found at the scene of the crime.  Circuit to take the seat held by now-Attorney General Merrick Garland.  The Abrams are daughters of two Methodist ministers from Mississippi and have welcomed Gardner with open arms into their family, who he says are 'extraordinary and remarkable'. 	display: inline-block; [16], The United States Senate confirmed Abrams on November 18, 2014, on a vote of 100-0.[3]. She could become the nation's first Black woman governor", "The fate of the Democrats' future may lie in Georgia", "President Obama Nominates Leslie Joyce Abrams to Serve on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia", "Abrams, Leslie Joyce  Federal Judicial Center", "Presidential Nominations Sent to the Senate", "On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Nomination of Leslie Joyce Abrams, of Georgia, to be U.S. District Judge)", "On the Nomination (Confirmation Leslie Joyce Abrams, of Georgia, to be U.S. District Judge)", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leslie_Abrams_Gardner&oldid=1142113247, Judges of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 15:46. She can go on to the be the first black female governor in the United States.'. Circuit that is due to open up in February when Judge David Tatel assumes senior status.  'I've seen 18-year-olds come in and get a hit put on them and get killed. United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, .infobox { We may earn a commission from links on this page. [8] On November 12, 2014, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed for cloture on her nomination. Leslie Abrams Gardner ( ne Leslie Joyce Abrams; born December 6, 1974) is a U.S. District Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. 	font-weight: bold; On Dec. 28, Abrams Gardner granted that order, meaning the counties were ordered, for the next eight days, not to remove the targeted voters from registration lists, or require them to cast only provisional ballots. Justice Leslie Abrams Gardner is speculated to be on President Biden's shortlist for the nation's . Ballot measures, Who represents me? By the fall, he had transferred dozens of hours of credits hed accumulated over the years and was enrolled at Chapman as a senior on a full-ride Presidential Scholarship. Gardner had put the incident behind him and was back in Florida two years later, attending college for business management, when police arrested him. Gardner recalled: 'My mother told me on a Sunday that she'd gone out to pray and God had said that you can pack up and you're coming home. 	font-size: 1.2em; Jackson, 51, is a rising star in Washington legal circles, she is a former Breyer clerk and a federal appeals court judge who was in the middle of politically charged disputes during the Donald Trump era. The two met at an event for the Georgias Black Women Lawyers Association. Some other possible front-runners include 45-year-old California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger and Georgia U.S. District Court Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner, who is 47 and the sister of Stacey Abrams, who is running for governor in Georgia. None of the victims identified him as their attacker. Two sources close to the Congressional Black Caucus said that Jackson is viewed as a favorite. .widget-row.Independent, .widget-row.Nonpartisan, .widget-row.Constitution { Jackson was nominated by Obama to the federal district court in Washington, winning Senate confirmation in 2013. Black Women Had Some Major Firsts In Last Week's Midterm Elections, Black Musicians Are Not A Monolith: An Interview with Bartees Strange, Stacey Abrams: Here's How Voter Suppression Can Occur. A federal judge in Georgia on Monday ordered two counties to reverse a decision removing more than 4,000 voters from the rolls ahead of the Jan. 5 runoff elections that will decide control of the U.S. Senate. In reality, Abrams was not a party to the case on which her sister ruled in December 2020. A century and a decade. He beat her, raped her 60-year-old daughter, then stole $90 and a cassette player. District Judge Wilhelmina 'Mimi' Wright, Judge on Minnesota's. Leslie Abrams Gardner The sister of voting rights activist and Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner is 47 years old and currently presides over a federal court in Atlanta, having been nominated by President Obama in 2014. Clyburn told the New York Times in February Childs would be a good addition to the Supreme Court.. A federal judge in Georgia on Monday ordered two counties to reverse a decision removing more than 4,000 voters from the rolls The judge, Leslie Abrams Gardner  the sister of former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. She doesn't want you to go outside, she's being protective,' Gardner said. Now I want to bring awareness and keep individuals informed on how you should react in these situations and how you survive to see another day.. To contact the reporters on this story:Kimberly Robinson in Arlington at krobinson103@bloomberg.net;Greg Stohr in Washington at gstohr@bloomberg.net;Madi Alder in Arlington at malder5@bloomberg.net, To contact the editors responsible for this story:Elizabeth Wasserman at ewasserman2@bloomberg.net;Seth Stern at sstern22@bloomberg.net. And that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court."[8]. It was through this work that he met his wife, Leslie Abrams Gardner, who became the first Black woman appointed as a federal judge in Georgia in 2014 and is sister to voting rights activist Stacey Abrams. Growing up in Tampa Bay, Florida, he was a natural at sports, from football to basketball, but it was baseball that was destined to be his future. He agreed there had been a miscarriage of justice, but it still took 46 months before Gardner was released, and the state wasn't willing to give in, and wanted a retrial, even offering him ten years if he admitted his guilt. [4][5] NBC News had previously reported the retirement on January 26. A man who spent nearly three decades in prison after being wrongly convicted of rape and assault is marrying a federal judge who is the sister of Stacey Abrams, the first-ever black female nominee for governor in the United States.