Carolyn Dineen King (born January 30, 1938, in Syracuse, New York) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * Eastern District of Louisiana * M ...

. Her chambers are in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

Education and career

Born in Syracuse, New York, King received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree, summa cum laude, from Smith College in 1959. She received a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...

from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...

in 1962. After the

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

's office in Houston denied her a position as an Assistant United States Attorney—she believes it was because she was a woman—she joined

Fulbright & Jaworski Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. (now Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP), was founded in Houston, TX in 1919 by R.C. Fulbright. On June 3, 2013, the firm became part of the global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, a Swiss verein. Norton Rose Fulbright US ...

as a corporate and securities lawyer. She was in private practice of law in

from 1962 to 1979.

Federal judicial service

King was nominated by President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1 ...

on April 30, 1979, to the

, to a new seat created by 92 Stat. 1629. She was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on July 12, 1979, and received her commission on July 13, 1979. She served as the first female Chief Judge from 1999 to 2006. She assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

on December 31, 2013. She was nominated and served until January 1, 1988, under the name Carolyn Dineen Randall. In 2002, at the request of Chief Justice

William Rehnquist William Hubbs Rehnquist ( ; October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American attorney and jurist who served on the U.S. Supreme Court for 33 years, first as an associate justice from 1972 to 1986 and then as the 16th chief justice from ...

, she became the first woman to chair the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States.

Honors and awards

In 2007, King received the Edward J. Devitt Distinguished Service to Justice Award from the

American Judicature Society The American Judicature Society (AJS) is an independent, non-partisan membership organization working nationally to protect the integrity of the American justice system. AJS's membership — including judges, lawyers, and members of the public — ...

. King is also a 1997 recipient of the Smith College Medal and the American Bar Association's Margaret Brent Award. In 2014, she was honored by the American College of Bankruptcy with its Distinguished Service award.

Notable activities

King was elected to the American Law Institute in 1985 and was elected to the ALI Council in 1991. She served as ALI's Treasurer from May 2010 to May 2013.

Personal life

King served under the name Carolyn Dineen Randall from 1979 to 1988. She married senior Fifth Circuit Judge Thomas Morrow Reavley in August 2004. King is widely considered to be a political and judicial

moderate Moderate is an ideological category which designates a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion. A moderate is considered someone occupying any mainstream position avoiding extreme views. In American ...

Notable case

On December 18, 2019, King dissented when the Fifth Circuit declared the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate unconstitutional.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Carolyn Dineen 1938 births 20th-century American judges Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Living people Lawyers from Syracuse, New York Smith College alumni United States court of appeals judges appointed by Jimmy Carter Yale Law School alumni 20th-century American women judges