Carolyn King | |
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Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit | |
In office January 16, 1999 – January 30, 2006 |
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Preceded by | Henry Politz |
Succeeded by | Edith Jones |
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit | |
In office July 13, 1979 – December 31, 2013 |
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Appointed by | Jimmy Carter |
Preceded by | Seat established |
Succeeded by | Vacant |
Personal details | |
Born |
Syracuse, New York, U.S. |
January 30, 1938
Education |
Smith College (BA) Yale University (LLB) |
Carolyn Dineen King (born January 30, 1938, Syracuse, New York) is a senior judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Her chambers are in Houston, Texas.
King graduated summa cum laude from Smith College in 1959, and earned a law degree from Yale Law School in 1962.
After the United States Attorney'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 as a corporate and securities lawyer. From 1962 to 1979, she was in private practice in Houston.
In 1979, President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the Fifth Circuit, where she has written over 4400 opinions. In 1999, King became the first woman to serve as Chief Judge of the Fifth Circuit, a position that she held until 2006.
In 2002, at the request of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, she became the first woman to chair the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States.
King assumed senior status on December 31, 2013.
In 2007, King received the Edward J. Devitt Distinguished Service to Justice Award from the American Judicature Society. King is also a 1997 recipient of the Smith College Medal and the American Bar Association’s Margaret Brent Award.
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.
King served under the name "Carolyn Dineen Randall" from 1979 to 1988. She is married to senior Fifth Circuit Judge Thomas Morrow Reavley.