President Donald Trump can now appoint two new federal judges for the Northern District of Mississippi.
U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock recently announced that she will retire on April 15. This means she will continue to hear cases as a judge, but with a reduced caseload.
“I’ve been extremely fortunate throughout my legal career,” Aycock said in a statement. “As one of only a few women graduating in my law school class, I had the chance to break ground for the female practitioner.”
A native of Itawamba County, Aycock attended Tremont High School and Mississippi State University. She earned her law degree from Mississippi College and graduated second in her class.
Throughout her legal career, she blazed many trails for female lawyers and judges. She began her judicial career in 2002, when she was elected as the first woman to serve on the Mississippi Circuit Court in northeast Mississippi.
She held that position until 2007, when President George W. Bush appointed her to the federal bench. She became Mississippi’s first female federal judge after being unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate.
Aycock becomes the second judge to achieve senior status in four years. U.S. District Judge Michael Mills announced in 2021 that he would retire, but the Senate has yet to confirm a replacement.
President Joe Biden appointed Scott Colom, a state prosecutor, to fill Mills’ vacancy in 2023. U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker approved Colom’s appointment, but U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith blocked his confirmation using a practice known as “blue slips,” which allows senators to block the confirmation of judicial appointees from their home state.
As a result, President Trump will be able to appoint two federal judges to lifetime appointments in the Northern District. U.S. District Judge Debra Brown will soon be the district’s only active federal judge. Aycock, Mills, and U.S. District Judge Glenn Davidson will all be senior judges.
Federal district judges play an important role in the federal courts by presiding over major criminal and civil trials and enforcing Supreme Court and Court of Appeals rulings in their local districts.
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