Nominated by George W. Bush Preceded by Edith Brown Clement | Name Lance Africk Role Judge | |
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Full Name Lance Michael Africk Born December 1, 1951 (age 72)
New York City, New York ( 1951-12-01 ) Alma mater University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BA, 1973)
University of North Carolina School of Law (JD, 1975) Education University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina School of Law | ||
Lance Michael Africk (born December 1, 1951) is a United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
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Education and career
The New York City-born Africk received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1973, and two years later a Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina School of Law. From 1975 to 1976, he was a law clerk to James Gulotta, a judge of the Louisiana 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. He entered the private practice of law in Louisiana from 1976 to 1977, and was thereafter Director of the Career Criminal Bureau for the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office from 1977 to 1980. He returned to private practice until 1982, and then became an Assistant United States Attorney for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana until 1990. In 1986, he began teaching as an instructor at the University of New Orleans.
District court service
Africk became a United States Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in 1990. After the election of Bill Clinton in 1992, Africk changed his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat. He did not obtain nomination for a judgeship under Clinton. On January 23, 2002, by which time he had returned to Republican registration, Africk was nominated by President George W. Bush to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana vacated by Edith Brown Clement. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 17, 2002, and received his commission of office the same day. More conservative Republicans opposed Bush's selection of Africk, whose past Democratic affiliation caused them discomfiture; the publication Gambit Weekly reported that shipbuilder Donald Thomas "Boysie" Bollinger of Lockport in Lafourche Parish, a major GOP donor and the son of former party chairman Donald G. Bollinger, was the driving force behind the Africk nomination.
Notable case
On March 31, 2011, Judge Africk sentenced former New Orleans police officer David Warren to twenty-five years and nine months in federal prison on a federal civil rights violation of committing manslaughter with a firearm in the case of the death of Henry Glover. Africk sentenced another former officer, Greg MacRae, to seventeen years and three months in prison and three years of supervised release on obstruction of justice and another civil rights charge. "Henry Glover was not at the strip mall to commit suicide. He was there to retrieve some baby clothing. You killed a man. Despite your tendentious arguments to the contrary, it was no mistake," Africk told Warren.
Other interests
Judge Africk served as the 54th president of the Sugar Bowl Committee in 2011-2012, and oversaw the game in which the University of Michigan Wolverines defeated Virginia Tech University in an overtime win. Thereafter he helped in the presentation of the Sugar Bowl Trophy to Brady Hoke and the Wolverines team.