Lyonel Thomas Senter Jr. (July 30, 1933 – May 18, 2011) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi The United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi (in case citations, N.D. Miss.) is a federal court in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Fifth Circuit with facilities in Aberdeen, Mississippi, Aber ...

Education and career

Born in

Fulton Fulton may refer to: People * Robert Fulton (1765–1815), American engineer and inventor who developed the first commercially successful steam-powered ship * Fulton (surname) Given name * Fulton Allem (born 1957), South African golfer * Fult ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Mis ...

, Senter received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree from the

University of Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to a ...

in 1956 and 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 ...

from the

University of Mississippi School of Law The University of Mississippi School of Law, also known as Ole Miss Law, is an ABA-accredited law school located on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. The School of Law offers the only dedicated aerospace law curri ...

in 1959. He was in private practice in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), ...

, Mississippi, between 1959 and 1968, also serving as Monroe County prosecuting attorney from 1960 to 1963. He was a United States Commissioner for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi from 1966 to 1968. He was a circuit judge for the state of Mississippi, on the

First Judicial District of Mississippi First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: * World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

, from 1968 to 1979.

Federal judicial service

On October 11, 1979, Senter 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 19 ...

to a seat on the

vacated by Judge

Orma Rinehart Smith Orma Rinehart Smith (September 4, 1904 – July 5, 1982) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. Education and career Born in Booneville, Mississippi, Smith received a ...

. Senter 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 ...

on December 20, 1979 in a 43-25 vote, and received his commission on December 21, 1979. He served as Chief Judge from 1982 to 1998. He 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 July 30, 1998 and took inactive senior status on April 8, 2011. He attended the

National Judicial College The National Judicial College (NJC) was established in 1963 as an entity within the American Bar Association. The NJC moved to the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UN ...

at the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12 ...

Death

Senter died at

North Mississippi Medical Center North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

Tupelo Tupelo , genus ''Nyssa'' , is a small genus of deciduous trees with alternate, simple leaves. It is sometimes included in the subfamily Nyssoideae of the dogwood family, Cornaceae, but is placed by other authorities in the family Nyssaceae. In ...

, Mississippi, on May 18, 2011.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Senter, Lyonel Thomas Jr. 1933 births 2011 deaths Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi United States district court judges appointed by Jimmy Carter 20th-century American judges University of Mississippi School of Law alumni People from Fulton, Mississippi