Vicki Miles-LaGrange (born September 30, 1953) is an inactive Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. She was the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

woman to be sworn in as

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

for the Western District of Oklahoma. She was also the first African-American woman elected to the Oklahoma Senate.

Early life and education

Born September 30, 1953, in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

, Oklahoma, Miles-LaGrange, received a certificate from the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the Br ...

in Accra,

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...

in 1973, and graduated cum laude from

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely foll ...

with 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 in 1974. In 1977, she received her Juris Doctor from Howard University School of Law in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, where she was an editor of ''The Howard Law Journal''. As an honors graduate of Howard University School of Law, Washington, D.C., she served as an Editor of ''The Howard Law Journal'' while working part-time as a Congressional Intern for U.S. House Speaker

Carl Albert Carl Bert Albert (May 10, 1908 – February 4, 2000) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 46th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1977 and represented Oklahoma's 3rd congressional district as a ...

Career in government

Before 1977 she served as a legislative intern for

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...

, a law clerk for district judge Luther L. Bohanon, a law clerk for the

United States Commission on Civil Rights The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (CCR) is a bipartisan, independent commission of the United States federal government, created by the Civil Rights Act of 1957 during the Eisenhower administration, that is charged with the responsibility fo ...

, and a law clerk for the law firm of

Arnold & Porter Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP is an American multinational law firm. A white-shoe firm, Arnold & Porter is among the largest law firms in the world, by both revenue and by its number of lawyers. History Arnold & Porter was founded in 1946 ...

. Miles-LaGrange served as a law clerk to Woodrow Seals of the

United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas (in case citations, S.D. Tex.) is the federal district court with jurisdiction over the southeastern part of Texas. The court's headquarters is in Houston, Texas and has six ...

from 1977 to 1979. She was a graduate fellow in the Criminal Division of the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United Stat ...

from 1979 to 1980, and a special assistant to the African Development Group,

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 The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

in 1981. From 1981 to 1982, she was a special assistant to the African Development Group in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

. She was a trial attorney of Office of Enforcement Operations,

from 1982 to 1983. She returned to Oklahoma to serve as an

assistant district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a lo ...

for

Oklahoma County Oklahoma County is located in the central part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 718,633, making it the most populous county in Oklahoma. The county seat is Oklahoma City, the state capital and largest ci ...

from 1983 to 1986, where she prosecuted

sex crime Sex and the law deals with the regulation by law of human sexual activity. Sex laws vary from one place or jurisdiction to another, and have varied over time. Unlawful sexual acts are called sex crimes. Some laws regarding sexual activity are ...

s. 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 Maxine Edwyna Cissel Horner (January 17, 1933 – February 7, 2021) was one of the first African American women to serve in the Oklahoma State Senate, serving from 1986 to 2004, along with Vicki Miles-LaGrange. Horner held the position of Democr ...

. She was the

for the Western District of Oklahoma from 1993 to 1994.

Federal judicial service

Miles-LaGrange 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 ...

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 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 October 7, 1994, and received her commission on November 28, 1994. She served as Chief Judge from 2008 to 2015. She took inactive

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 ...

on November 5, 2018, meaning that while she remains a Federal Judge, though she will no longer hear cases or participate in the business of the court.

Notable case

Miles-LaGrange's preliminary rulingOrder, Awad v. Ziriax et al., No. CIV-10-1186 (Nov. 29, 2010, W.D. Okla.)
/ref> enjoining amendment of the Oklahoma Constitution to prohibit the state's courts from either "considering or using" international law or Islamic Sharia law attracted considerable attention.

References

External links

*
Confirmation hearings on federal appointments : hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Third Congress, first session on confirmations of appointees to the federal judiciary. pt. 6 (1996)

Find Law ProfileWomen of the Oklahoma Legislature Oral History Project--OSU Library
* ttps://oklahomahof.com/member-archives/m/miles-lagrange-vicki-2013 Oklahoma Hall of Fame Biography of Vicki Miles-LaGrange 1953 births Living people 20th-century American judges 20th-century American women judges 21st-century American judges 21st-century American women judges African-American judges African-American state legislators in Oklahoma African-American women in politics Arnold & Porter people Howard University School of Law alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma Democratic Party Oklahoma state senators Lawyers from Oklahoma City United States Attorneys for the Western District of Oklahoma United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton University of Ghana alumni Vassar College alumni Women state legislators in Oklahoma {{Oklahoma-politician-stub