Will Bill Pryor Get his Judgeship will he switch to the Democratic Party.

8/3/01

WASHINGTON — President Bush announced Thursday he will nominate Karon O. Bowdre and Callie Virginia Smith Grenade to fill two open U.S. District Court judgeships in Alabama.

Bowdre, a Montgomery native and professor at the Cumberland School of Law — where she earned her law degree — was tapped to fill a vacancy at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, located in Birmingham.

Bowdre once served as a law clerk of U.S. District Judge Roy Guin and was also once a partner at the law firm of Rives and Peterson. She also belongs to the Christian Legal Society, a 40-year-old organization of judges and lawyers whose aim is to marry the practice of law with the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Sam Casey, executive director of the group, said Bowdre's nomination was "fantastic."

"She's a great scholar, very intelligent and a good pick for Alabama," he said.

Bush picked Granade to fill a judgeship on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama, located in Mobile.

Granade, 51, is a U.S. State's Attorney for that district and was once a law clerk of Circuit Judge John Godbold.

The Alabama nominees were among 16 candidates for federal benches across the nation that Bush announced Thursday.

There are about 100 vacancies in federal courts.