Raner Christercunean Collins (born 1952) is a senior

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the

United States District Court for the District of Arizona The United States District Court for the District of Arizona (in case citations, D. Ariz.) is the U.S. district court that covers the state of Arizona. It is under the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The District was est ...

Education and career

Born in Malvern,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

, Collins received a

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 year ...

degree from Arkansas Polytechnic College (now Arkansas Tech University) in 1973 and a Juris Doctor from the

University of Arizona College of Law University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law is the law school at the University of Arizona located in Tucson, Arizona and was the first law school founded in the State of Arizona, opening its doors in 1915. Also known as University of Ar ...

(now James E. Rogers College of Law) in 1975. He was a law clerk in the

Pima County Pima County ( ) is a county in the south central region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,043,433, making it Arizona's second-most populous county. The county seat is Tucson, where most of the populati ...

, Arizona Attorney's Office from 1975 to 1976, and then a trial attorney for that office until 1981. He was a city magistrate for the City of

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

Court from 1981 to 1983, thereafter returning to Pima County Attorney's Office as a county attorney until 1985. He was a superior court judge pro tempore of the Pima County Superior Court from 1985 to 1988, and a superior court judge there from 1988 to 1998.

Federal judicial service

On May 11, 1998, Collins 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 seat on the

vacated by William Docker Browning. Collins 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 July 31, 1998, and received his commission on August 3, 1998. He became Chief Judge on September 3, 2013, succeeding previous Chief Judge Roslyn O. Silver who took

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

. He finished his term as Chief Judge on September 4, 2018. He assumed

on March 4, 2019.

Notable ruling

On January 11, 2011, following the death of Chief Judge John Roll in the

2011 Tucson shooting On January 8, 2011, U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords and 18 others were shot during a constituent meeting held in a supermarket parking lot in Casas Adobes, Arizona, in the Tucson metropolitan area. Six people were killed, including feder ...

, Collins ordered that the judges of the District of Arizona, all of whom knew Roll well, could not preside over the prosecution of the alleged murderer.

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Raner 1952 births Living people African-American judges Arkansas Tech University alumni James E. Rogers College of Law alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona People from Malvern, Arkansas Superior court judges in the United States United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges

Education and career

Federal judicial service

Notable ruling

See also

Sources