Ronnie L White

Education and legal career

White received an Associate of Arts degree from St. Louis Community College in 1977 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree Saint Louis University in 1979. He earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Missouri–Kansas City in 1983. He worked as a public defender in St. Louis and an attorney in various other government offices and was elected as a Democratic member of the Missouri House of Representatives, where he served for six years. In 1993, he was appointed as a City Counselor for St. Louis City. In May 1994, Governor Mel Carnahan appointed him a judge for the Eastern District of the Missouri Court of Appeals. Carnahan appointed White to the Supreme Court of Missouri in October 1995. He was the court's first African-American Chief Justice, from 2003 to 2005. White retired from the court on July 6, 2007 and was succeeded by Judge Patricia Breckenridge.

First nomination to federal district court

In 1997, President Bill Clinton nominated White for a United States district court seat. White's nomination passed the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, but ran into resistance from then-Senator John Ashcroft in 1999. Ashcroft claimed White was "pro-criminal" due to White's opinions in death penalty cases before the Supreme Court and cited opposition from Missouri police associations that were later discovered to be all-white. Carnahan and other Democrats criticized Republican opposition to the nomination, and it quickly became embroiled with racial overtones and an issue in the United States Senate election in Missouri the following year. On October 5, 1999, White's nomination failed in a 54-45, party-line vote in the full Senate. Ashcroft's opposition to White hurt him both in the 2000 Senate election (which he narrowly lost for a variety of reasons) and during his confirmation hearings when he was appointed United States Attorney General.

Second nomination to federal district court

On November 7, 2013, President Obama nominated White to serve on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. He received a hearing before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee on May 20, 2014. On June 19, 2014 his nomination was reported out of committee by a roll call vote of 10-8. On Monday, July 14, 2014 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed a motion to invoke cloture on the nomination. On July 16, 2014, the United States Senate voted 54-43 for cloture on White's nomination, cutting off a Republican-led filibuster of White's nomination. Later that same day, senators voted 53-44 to confirm White. He received his judicial commission on July 17, 2014.