Samuel Mays
2015 - Present
9
float:right; border:1px solid #FFB81F; background-color: white; width: 250px; font-size: .9em; margin-bottom:0px;
} .infobox p { margin-bottom: 0; } .widget-row { display: inline-block; width: 100%; margin-top: 1px; margin-bottom: 1px; } .widget-row.heading { font-size: 1.2em; } .widget-row.value-only { text-align: center; background-color: grey; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.value-only.white { background-color: #f9f9f9; } .widget-row.value-only.black { background-color: #f9f9f9; color: black; } .widget-row.Democratic { background-color: #003388; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Republican { background-color: red; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Independent, .widget-row.Nonpartisan, .widget-row.Constitution { background-color: grey; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Libertarian { background-color: #f9d334; color: black; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Green { background-color: green; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-key { width: 43%; display: inline-block; padding-left: 10px; vertical-align: top; font-weight: bold; } .widget-value { width: 57%; float: right; display: inline-block; padding-left: 10px; word-wrap: break-word; } .widget-img { width: 150px; display: block; margin: auto; } .clearfix { clear: both; }
Samuel H. Mays Jr. is a federal judge on senior status with the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. He joined the court in 2002 after being nominated by President George W. Bush.
Early life and education
A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Mays graduated from Amherst College with his bachelor's degree in 1970 and from Yale Law School with his J.D. in 1973.[1]
Professional career
- 2015 - Present: Senior judge
- 2002-2015: Judge
- 2000-2002: Private practice, Tennessee
- 1995-2000: Office of Gov. Don Sundquist (R), Governor of Tennessee
- 1997-2000: Deputy and chief of staff
- 1995-1997: Legal counsel
- 1973-1995: Private practice, Tennessee[1]
Judicial career
Western District of Tennessee
 |
| Nominee Information |
| Name: Samuel H. Mays, Jr. |
| Court: United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee |
| Progress |
| Confirmed 106 days after nomination. |
 Nominated: January 23, 2002
|
| ABA Rating: Unanimously Qualified
|
| Questionnaire: |
| Hearing: April 25, 2002
|
| Hearing Transcript: Hearing Transcript |
| QFRs: (Hover over QFRs to read more) |
| Reported: May 2, 2002
|
| Confirmed: May 9, 2002
|
| Vote: 97-0
|
Mays was appointed by President George W. Bush on January 23, 2002, to a seat on the [United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee]] vacated by Jerome Turner. The American Bar Association rated Mays Unanimously Qualified for the nomination. Hearings on Mays' nomination were held before the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 25, 2002, and his nomination was reported by U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on May 2, 2002. Mays was confirmed on a recorded 97-0 vote of the U.S. Senate on May 9, 2002, and he received his commission the next day. Mays elected to take senior status beginning on July 1, 2015.[1]
Noteworthy cases
Public school system dispute in Memphis & Shelby County (2012)
Judge Mays presided over a federal suit stemming from an ongoing process to consolidate the public schools systems of the city of Memphis, Tennessee with those of Shelby County, Tennessee. In an August 2012 referendum, voters in suburbs in Shelby County approved the creation of their own municipal school districts after the merger, along with state-required minimum tax increases to fund them.[2]
On November 27, 2012, Mays issued a ruling voiding the referendum and all actions that Shelby County's suburban municipalities had taken towards creating their own new school districts. Judge Mays found that the legislative debate over the law which allowed for the creation of the new municipal school districts showed that Republican state legislators intended for it to apply only to Shelby County. Due to this, the law was local in effect, and Mays held that since it did not include a provision to gain approval from the entire county, it was unconstitutional.[2] Judge Mays struck down the law as violating the Tennessee State Constitution as it applied specifically to Shelby County, but was passed as a general law. Mays commented that,
| “ | There is in the [legislative] history a sense of a wink and a nod, a candid discussion of the bill's purpose occasionally blurred by a third-party correction. The history is clear, however, that the bill never would have passed had it not been intended to apply only to Shelby County.[2][3] | ” |
In response, the Tennessee Legislature passed House Bill 1288, a law which repealed the state's 15-year-old prohibition on new municipal school systems statewide, thereby paving the way for all suburban municipalities to create their own school districts. Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam (R) signed the bill into law on April 24, 2013.[4]
A special election was held in July of 2013, in which Shelby County and other Tennesseans voted on the referendum. The only question on the ballot was be whether voters wanted municipal schools or not.[5][6] The referendum passed in all six municipalities.[7]
See also
- United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee
- United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Federal Judicial Center, "Biography of Judge Samuel H. Mays, Jr.," accessed May 26, 2017
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Memphis Commercial-Appeal, "Judge Mays halts quest for municipal school districts'," Nov. 27, 2012
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ The Memphis Commercial Appeal, "Gov. Haslam signs main municipal school district bill," April 24, 2013
- ↑ WREG-TV, "Early voting for municipal school districts starts Wednesday," June 24, 2013
- ↑ The Memphis Daily News, "Suburbs ready for start of early voting," June 21, 2013
- ↑ WMCTV, "All six municipalities choose to form school districts," July 16, 2013
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by: Jerome Turner |
Western District of Tennessee 2002–2015 Seat #1 |
Succeeded by: Thomas Parker
|
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 |
Armijo • Bates • Beistline • Blackburn • Bowdre • Bunning • Bury • Caldwell • Camp • Cassell • Cebull • Clement • Clifton • Crane • Eagan • Engelhardt • Friot • Gibbons • Granade • Gregory • Gritzner • Haddon • Hartz • Heaton • Hicks • Howard • Johnson • Jorgenson • Krieger • Land • Leon • Mahan • Martinez • Martone • McConnell • Melloy • Mills • O'Brien • Parker • Payne • Prost • Reeves • Riley • Robinson • Rogers • Royal • Shedd • B. Smith • L. Smith • Walton • Wooten • Zainey | ||
| 2002 |
Africk • Anderson • Autrey • Baylson • Cercone • Chesler • Clark • Collyer • Conner • Conti • Corrigan • Davis • Davis • Dorr • England • Ericksen • Fuller • Gardner • Godbey • Griesbach • Hanen • Hovland • Hudson • Jones • Jordan • Kinkeade • Klausner • Kugler • Leighton • Linares • Moses • Marra • Martinez • Martini • Mays • McVerry • Phillips • Raggi • Reade • Rose • Rufe • Savage • Schwab • Smith • St. Eve • Walter • White • Wolfson | ||
| 2003 |
Adams • Altonaga • Bea • Benitez • Bennett • Boyle • Brack • Breen • Browning • Burns • Bybee • Callahan • Campbell • Cardone • Carney • Castel • Chertoff • Cohn • Colloton • Conrad • Coogler • Cook • Cooke • Crone • Der-Yeghiayan • Drell • Duffey • Duncan • Erickson • Feuerstein • Figa • Filip • Fischer • Fisher • Flanagan • Floyd • Frost • Gibson • Greer • Gruender • Guirola • Hall • Hardiman • Hayes • Herrera • Hicks • Holmes • Holwell • Hopkins • Houston • Irizarry • Jones • Junell • Karas • Kravitz • Martinez • McKnight • Minaldi • Montalvo • Mosman • Otero • Pickering • Prado • Pratter • Proctor • Quarles • Robart • Roberts • Robinson • Rodgers • Rodriguez • Sabraw • Sanchez • Saylor • Selna • Sharpe • Simon • Springmann • Stanceu • Steele • Stengel • Suko • Sutton • Sykes • Titus • Townes • Tymkovich • Van Antwerpen • Varlan • Wake • Wesley • White • Woodcock • Yeakel | ||
| 2004 |
Alvarez • Benton • Boyko • Covington • Diamond • Harwell • Kelley • Schiavelli • Schneider • Starrett • Watson | ||
| 2005 |
Alito • Barrett • Batten • Bianco • Brown • Burgess • Conrad • Cox • Crotty • Delgado-Colon • Dever • DuBose • Griffin • Griffith • Johnston • Kendall • Larson • Ludington • Mattice • McKeague • Neilson • Owen • Pryor • Roberts • Sandoval • Schiltz • Seabright • Smoak • Van Tatenhove • Vitaliano • Watkins • Zouhary | ||
| 2006 |
Besosa • Bumb • Chagares • Cogan • Gelpi • Golden • Gordon • Gorsuch • Guilford • Hillman • Holmes • Ikuta • D. Jordan • K. Jordan • Kavanaugh • Miller • Moore • Shepherd • Sheridan • Smith • Whitney • Wigenton | ||
| 2007 |
Anderson • Aycock • Bailey • Bryant • Davis • DeGiusti • Dow • Elrod • Fairbank • Fischer • Frizzell • Gutierrez • Hall • Hardiman • Haynes • Howard • Jarvey • Jones • Jonker • Kapala • Kays • Laplante • Limbaugh • Lioi • Livingston • Maloney • Mauskopf • Mendez • Miller • Neff • O'Connor • O'Grady • O'Neill • Osteen • Ozerden • Reidinger • Sammartino • Schroeder • Settle • Smith • Snow • Southwick • Suddaby • Sullivan • Thapar • Tinder • Van Bokkelen • Wood • Wright • Wu | ||
| 2008 |
Agee • Anello • Arguello • Brimmer • Gardephe • Goldberg • Jones • Kethledge • Lawrence • Matsumoto • Melgren • Murphy • Scriven • Seibel • Slomsky • Trenga • Waddoups • White | ||
Federal courts:
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Tennessee, Middle District of Tennessee, Western District of Tennessee • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Tennessee, Middle District of Tennessee, Western District of Tennessee
State courts:
Tennessee Supreme Court • Tennessee Court of Appeals • Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals • Tennessee Circuit Court • Tennessee Chancery Courts • Tennessee Criminal Court • Tennessee Probate Court • Tennessee General Sessions Court • Tennessee Juvenile Court • Tennessee Municipal Court
State resources:
Courts in Tennessee • Tennessee judicial elections • Judicial selection in Tennessee
