Carl E. Stewart (born January 2, 1950) is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He was appointed by Bill Clinton in 1994, and previously sat as a judge of the Louisiana Circuit Courts of Appeal from 1985 to 1994. Background Stewart was born to Corine, a maid and Richard Stewart, a postal worker, in Shreveport. As a teenager in the 1960's, Stewart witnessed the civil rights struggle of the era, and saw how the legal system could be used to bring about positive social change. Stewart was inspired by what he saw and decided to dedicate his life to helping people through the legal system. He graduated from Dillard University in New Orleans with a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude in 1971 and earned his Juris Doctor from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law in 1974. In 1974, Stewart entered the U.S. Army in the Judge Advocate General's Corps. As a captain, he served as a defense attorney for soldiers at Fort Sam Houston in Texas. After an honorable discharge, Stewart worked as an associate in a small private law firm. He joined a field office of the Louisiana Attorney General in 1978. In 1979, Stewart became an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and worked on a wide variety of cases. He prosecuted a loan shark who preyed on the poor, a sheriff who paid for votes during a reelection bid, and an unscrupulous land owner who filed false flood relief claims with the federal government. Stewart received a letter of commendation from the Justice Department for his work on a civil rights case in 1982 and 1983. Stewart left the Justice Department in 1983 to go into private practice in Shreveport, and work as an adjunct professor at Louisiana State University. In 1985, he won election to a sixyear term as a District Judge in Louisiana. At the conclusion of the term, Stewart was elected to the position on the state's Second Circuit Court of Appeal. Federal judicial service Stewart sat on the Louisiana Court of Appeal for the First Circuit from 1985 to 1991 and the Louisiana Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1991 to 1994. Stewart was nominated by President Bill Clinton on January 27, 1994, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, to a new seat authorized by 104