Judge Carlton Reeves was nominated by President Barack Obama on April 28, 2010, and was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on December 19, 2010 to serve as an federal district court judge in the Southern District of Mississippi.
Judge Reeves is a 1986 magna cum laude graduate of Jackson State University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science. He obtained his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1989. Upon his graduation, he clerked for Justice Reuben Anderson of the Mississippi Supreme Court.
He practiced with the Phelps Dunbar law firm before serving in the U. S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of Mississippi as Assistant United States Attorney and Chief of the Civil Division, where he both supervised the daily trial and appellate litigation efforts of the attorneys.
Judge Reeves served nationally on the Department of Justice, Civil Chiefs Working Group and was awarded a Certificate of Commendation by the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Immediately prior to his appointment to the federal bench, Judge Reeves was engaged in the private practice of law with Pigott Reeves Johnson, P.A., a law firm he founded in 2001, where the focus of his practice was state and federal litigation. He also served as a Special Master with the Hinds County Chancery Court.
Judge Reeves is a former President of the Magnolia Bar Association and Magnolia Bar Foundation. He has also served as Commissioner of the Mississippi Board of Bar Commissioners.
Judge Reeves is only the second African American nominated and confirmed as a federal judge in Mississippi.