United States Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., welcomed today’s announcement by the White House that President Obama intends to nominate Stephen Higginson to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.  Higginson currently serves both as an associate professor of law at Loyola New Orleans and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.  At the U.S. Attorney’s office, Attorney Higginson handles appeals and mentors younger attorneys. At Loyola, Professor Higginson teaches criminal justice and constitutional law.  Sen. Landrieu recommended Higginson for the position in a November 5, 2010 letter to the president.

“I am pleased that President Obama has announced this evening that he intends to nominate such a highly qualified and distinguished candidate as Stephen Higginson to be an Appellate Court Judge,” Sen. Landrieu said.  “He is a brilliant student of the Constitution and has the balance, temperament, compassion, and intellect needed to effectively rule on the Fifth Circuit.”

Higginson has earned the honor of Professor of the Year for each of his first three years of teaching.  Prior to practicing law, Higginson served as a law clerk to Justice Byron White of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Higginson attended Harvard College, where he received his A.B., summa cum laude, in 1983.  After graduating from Harvard, Higginson attended Cambridge University in England, where he was a Harvard Scholar, earning a Masters in Philosophy in 1984.  He then attended Yale Law School and obtained his J.D. in 1987.  While in law school, Higginson was Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law Journal.

If confirmed, Higginson will replace Judge Jacques Wiener, a Shreveport native, who took Senior Status last September.

To read the letter Sen. Landrieu sent to President Obama, please visit http://landrieu.senate.gov/mediacenter/upload/05052011higginson.pdf