Leslie Abrams Gardner

Leslie Abrams Gardner (née Leslie Joyce Abrams; born December 6, 1974) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. Prior to being appointed to the bench, she was an assistant United States attorney.

Biography

Gardner is the daughter of the Reverend Carolyn and the Reverend Robert Abrams, originally of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. She was one of six children. Her older sister Stacey Abrams is the former House Minority Leader in the Georgia General Assembly, and the Democratic nominee for governor in the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election and 2022 Georgia gubernatorial election.

Gardner received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1997 from Brown University. She received a Juris Doctor in 2002 from Yale Law School. She began her career serving as a law clerk for Judge Marvin J. Garbis of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. She served as an associate at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, from 2003 to 2006 and again from 2007 to 2010. She served as an associate at the law firm of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, from 2006 to 2007. From 2010 to 2014, she served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Georgia.

Gardner married her husband, Jimmie Gardner, in 2018; he had been exonerated two years prior for spending more than 25 years in prison for accusations of sexual assault. In November 2023, the Tampa Police Department released a statement stating her husband had been arrested on allegations of human trafficking.

Federal judicial service

On March 11, 2014, President Barack Obama nominated Gardner to serve as a United States district judge for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, to the seat being vacated by Judge Willie Louis Sands, who would assume senior status on April 12, 2014. She received a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 13, 2014. On June 19, 2014, her nomination was reported out of committee by voice vote. On November 12, 2014, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed for cloture on her nomination. On November 17, 2014, the United States Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 68–28 vote. On November 18, 2014, her nomination was confirmed by a 100–0 vote. She received her judicial commission on November 20, 2014.

See also

• Joe Biden Supreme Court candidates
• List of African-American federal judges
• List of African-American jurists

References

External links

• Leslie Abrams Gardner at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• Leslie Abrams Gardner at Ballotpedia

1. Stacey Abrams
2. Judge Gardner
3. Joe Biden Supreme Court candidates
4. Judge Abrams
5. Avondale High School (DeKalb County, Georgia)
6. List of African American federal judges
7. Andrea Abrams
8. List of African American jurists
9. 2020–21 United States Senate special election in Georgia
10. List of Brown University alumni
11. United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia
12. List of federal judges appointed by Barack Obama
13. Willie Louis Sands
14. List of current United States district judges
15. List of first women lawyers and judges in Georgia
16. Jennifer Garner
17. Milton H. Greene
18. The Latymer School
19. The Good Wife
20. List of television reporters