President Obama Should Nominate an African-American
To North Carolina’s Federal District Court
● President Obama should nominate an African-American to the last remaining vacancy on the
federal court in North Carolina. North Carolina desperately needs diversity on its district court bench.
While twenty-two percent of North Carolina’s population is African-American, the state has only one
African-American federal district judge. In terms of African-American representation, North Carolina
has the least diverse bench of all states in the Deep South.
● There are thirteen seats on North Carolina’s federal district courts: four in the Eastern District;
four in the Middle District and five in the Western District.
● Only one African American sits on a North Carolina federal district court: James Beaty. If
Judge Beaty retires in 2014 when he is eligible, there will be no African-American representation.
● Only two African Americans have ever sat on North Carolina’s federal district courts. In 1980,
President Carter appointed Richard Erwin to the Middle District; he died in 2006. In 1994, President
Clinton appointed James Beaty, to the Middle District, where he still sits. Thus, the last African
American was appointed 17 years ago.
● North Carolina has fewer African-American district court judges than any other Southern State:
South Carolina has two; Georgia has two (and two nominees); Virginia has four; Tennessee has two:
Alabama has two: Mississippi has two: Louisiana has three (and one nominee); and Florida has five.
● The Eastern and Western Districts in North Carolina have never had African-American judges.
● President Bush had nine opportunities to nominate persons to North Carolina district courts.
Each nominee was white:
Louise Flanagan – Eastern District – 2003 – white
Brent McKnight – Western District – 2003 – white
James Dever – Eastern District – 2005 – white
Robert Conrad – Western District – 2005 – white
Frank Whitney – Western District – 2006 – white
William Osteen – Middle District – 2007 – white
Martin Reidinger – Western District – 2007 – white
Thomas Farr – Eastern District – 2007 (nominated but not confirmed) – white
Thomas Schroeder – Middle District – 2008 – white
● Given the all-white slate by President Bush, expectations were high that President Obama
would nominate African Americans to diversify North Carolina’s federal bench.1
● President Obama has had three opportunities to fill vacancies, in the Eastern, Western and
Middle Districts. He has already appointed two persons: Catherine Eagles to the Middle District and
Max Cogburn to the Western District. Both are white. The next nominee should be African-
American. It is absolutely the right thing to do.
1 President Obama did appoint an African-American from North Carolina, James Wynn, to the federal appellate court
covering North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. Wynn had been nominated by President
Clinton but was never confirmed.
