Vicki Miles-LaGrange

Vicki Miles-LaGrange
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
In office
2008 – November 25, 2015
Preceded by Robin J. Cauthron
Succeeded by Joe L. Heaton
Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
Assumed office
November 28, 1994
Appointed by Bill Clinton
Preceded by Lee Roy West
Personal details
Born 1953 (age 62–63)
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.
Alma mater University of Ghana
Vassar College
Howard University School of Law

Vicki Miles-LaGrange (born 1953)[1] is a U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma.[2] She was the first African-American woman to be sworn in as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. She was also the first African-American woman elected to the Oklahoma Senate.

Early life and education

A native of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,[1] Miles-LaGrange, received a certificate from the University of Ghana in Accra, Ghana, West Africa in 1973, and graduated cum laude from Vassar College in 1974. She then received her J.D. from Howard University School of Law in Washington, DC in 1977. There, she was an editor of The Howard Law Journal.[3]

Career in government

Vicki Miles-LaGrange served as a law clerk to Woodrow Seals of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas from 1977 to 1979. She was a Graduate fellow in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. from 1979 to 1980, and a special assistant to the African Development Group, Washington, D.C. from 1980 to 1981. She was at the same time a Lecturer in the Women's Studies Program at the University of Maryland, College Park in 1981. She was a Trial attorney of Office of Enforcement Operations, U.S. Department of Justice from 1982 to 1983. She returned to Oklahoma to serve as an assistant district attorney for Oklahoma County from 1983 to 1986, where she prosecuted sex crimes. She then entered the private practice of law in Oklahoma City from 1986 to 1993, and was during that period an Oklahoma state Senator from 1987 to 1993, making her the first African-American woman elected to the Oklahoma State Senate along with Maxine Horner.[4] She was a U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma from 1993 to 1994.

Federal judicial service

Miles-LaGrange was nominated by President Bill Clinton on September 22, 1994, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma vacated by Lee Roy West. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 7, 1994, and received her commission on November 28, 1994. She served as chief judge from 2008-2015. Judge Miles-LaGrange's preliminary ruling [5] enjoining amendment of the Oklahoma Constitution to prohibit the state's courts from either "considering or using" international law or Islamic Sharia law has attracted considerable attention and has prompted one Oklahoma state legislator to urge Congress to impeach her.[6]

Personal affiliations

She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, and formerly served as the regional director for the Midwestern Region. She is also a member of The Links, Incorporated.[1] In 2003, Miles-LaGrange was inducted in the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Find Law Profile of Vicki Miles-LaGrange". Find Law. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
  2. ↑ Official Website. Retrieved on January 19, 2009.
  3. ↑ "Oral History Interview with Vicki Miles-LaGrange" (PDF). O-State Stories. November 5, 2007. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  4. ↑ Vicki Miles-LaGrange -- Women of the Oklahoma Legislature Oral History Project
  5. ↑ preliminary ruling<Order, Awad v. Ziriax et al., No. CIV-10-1186 (Nov. 29, 2010, W.D. Okla.), available at http://s3.amazonaws.com/content.newsok.com/documents/n29opinion.pdf
  6. ↑ Gavel to Gavel, Vol. 5, Issue 5, http://www.ncsc.org/~/media/Microsites/Files/Gavel%20to%20Gavel/archived%20pdfs/G%20to%20G%205-5.ashx
Legal offices
Preceded by
Lee Roy West		 Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
1994–present 		Incumbent
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