Willie Louis Sands (born 1949) is a senior

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.

Education and career

Born in Bradley, Georgia, Sands received his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from Mercer University in 1971 and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from

Mercer University School of Law Mercer University School of Law (historically Walter F. George School of Law) is the professional law school of Mercer University. Founded in 1873, it is one of the oldest law schools in the United States; the first law school accredited by the ...

in 1974. He was a second lieutenant in the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed F ...

Signal Corps in 1974, remaining in the Reserve until 1980 reaching the rank of captain. He was an assistant district attorney of the Macon, Georgia Judicial Circuit from 1975 to 1978. He was an

Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gove ...

for the Middle District of Georgia from 1978 to 1987. He was in private practice in Macon from 1987 to 1991, and was a judge on the Superior Court, Macon Judicial District from 1991 to 1993.

Federal judicial service

On February 9, 1994, Sands was nominated by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia created by 104 Stat. 5089. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on May 6, 1994, and received his commission on May 9, 1994. He served as chief judge from 2001 to 2006. He assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

on April 12, 2014.

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sands, Willie Louis 1949 births Living people African-American judges Assistant United States Attorneys Georgia (U.S. state) state court judges Judges of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia Mercer University alumni Superior court judges in the United States United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton United States Army officers 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges

Education and career

Federal judicial service

See also

Sources