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Carl Stewart

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Carl Stewart

Nonpartisan

United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit

Tenure

1994 - Present

Years in position

Education

Bachelor's

Dillard University, 1971

Law

Loyola University, New Orleans School of Law, 1974

Personal

Birthplace

Shreveport, LA

Carl E. Stewart is a judge on theUnited States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. He first joined the court in 1994 after being nominated by PresidentBill Clinton (D). He waschief judge fromOctober 1, 2012, to October 1, 2019.^[1]^[2]

Early life and education

A native ofShreveport, Louisiana, Stewart graduated from Dillard University with his bachelor's degree in 1971 and from Loyola University New Orleans School of Law with hisJ.D. in 1974.^[1]

Military career

Judge Graves served in the U.S. Army JAG Corps from 1975 to 1977. He attained the rank of captain.^[1]

Professional career

1994 - Present: Judge,United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit
- 2012-2019: Chief judge
1991-1994: Judge,Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeal
1985-1991: Judge,First Judicial District Court of Louisiana
1983-1985: Private practice,Shreveport, La.
1979-1983:Assistant U.S. attorney,Western District of Louisiana
1978-1979: Staff attorney, Office of theAttorney General of Louisiana
1977-1978: Private practice, Shreveport, La.^[1]

Judicial career

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals

Nomination Tracker

Nominee Information
Name: Carl E. Stewart
Court:United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit
Progress
Confirmed 99 days after nomination.
ANominated: January 27, 1994
AABA Rating:Substantial Majority Qualified, Minority Well Qualified
Questionnaire:
AHearing: April 21, 1994

QFRs:(Hover over QFRs to read more)

AReported: May 5, 1994
AConfirmed: May 6, 1994
AVote: Voice vote

Stewart was nominated to theUnited States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit by PresidentBill Clinton (D) onJanuary 27, 1994, to a new seat created by 104 Stat. 5089. TheAmerican Bar Association rated StewartSubstantial Majority Qualified, Minority Well Qualified for the nomination.^[3] Hearings on Stewart's nomination were held before theUnited States Senate Committee on the Judiciary on April 21, 1994, and his nomination was reported by then-U.S. Sen.Joseph Biden (D-Del.) on May 5, 1994. Stewart was confirmed on a voice vote of theU.S. Senate on May 6, 1994, and he received his commission on May 9, 1994. He was thechief judge of theFifth Circuit from 2012 to 2019.^[1]^[4]

Noteworthy cases

Federal appeals court finds FHFA structure unconstitutional (2018)

On July 16, 2018, a panel of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held inCollins v. Mnuchin that the structure of theFederal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is unconstitutional because it is led by a single director who is only removable by the president for cause. The panel consisted of Chief Judge Carl Stewart and Judges Catharina Haynes and Don Willett.^[5]^[6]

InCollins v. Mnuchin, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders presented the following complaints:

A 2012 dividend agreement between the FHFA and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which rendered their shares valueless, exceeded the statutory authority of the FHFA and the Treasury Department.
The FHFA was unconstitutionally structured because it was headed by a single director who was only removable for cause and it did not depend on congressional appropriations.^[5]^[6]

A district court dismissed the shareholders’ complaints. In a split per curiam decision, however, the Fifth Circuit panel reversed the decision on the grounds that the structure of the FHFA violates the separation of powers because the agency’s director is too insulated from presidential control. The court struck the language from HERA that only allowed the president to dismiss the FHFA director for good cause. Though the panel found the FHFA structure unconstitutional, they upheld the statutory authority of FHFA and Treasury Department to enter into the dividend agreement.^[5]^[7]

Both the plaintiffs and the FHFA filed petitions for rehearingen banc—before the full Fifth Circuit—in August 2018. The court heard argumentsen banc on January 23, 2019.^[8]^[9]

In a July 9, 2019, letter, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) asked the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold for-cause removal protections.^[10] The FHFA told the court that the agency’s new director, Mark A. Calabria, had reconsidered the constitutionality of the agency’s structure.^[10] The agency’s interim director, Joseph Otting, had decided not to defend the structure of the agency, but Calabria argued that the court should rule that the U.S. Constitution allows Congress to create agencies with single directors insulated from presidential control.^[10]

Fifth Circuit strikes political bingo money ban (2014)

In July 2014, the Fifth Circuit, sittingen banc, affirmed a federal district court opinion overturning a Texas ban on charities' spending of bingo proceeds on political speech as unconstitutional under theFirst Amendment. Chief Judge Stewart wrote the opinion, noting that Texas "fail[ed] to identify a compelling state interest."

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