Judge Dax Eric López (BA’98) has been nominated to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia by President Barack Obama. Judge López’s nomination to the federal bench was one of seven announced by President Obama July 30.
Judge López was appointed to his seat on the State Court of Dekalb County, where he presides over both civil and criminal matters, in 2010 by Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue. At 34, he became the youngest judge on the county’s state court bench and only the second Latino judge in the state.
Before that, he practiced at Foltz Martin (now dissolved) in Atlanta from 2008-10. He worked with the Atlanta offices of two other law firms–Ashe Rafuse & Hill (now Polsinelli) from 2005-08 and with Holland & Knight from 2002-05. Judge López began his legal career by serving as a law clerk to Chief Judge Héctor Laffitte of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico from 2001-02. He earned his undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt University, where he majored in political science, in 1998 before earning his law degree at Vanderbilt Law School in 2001.
Judge López was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Augusta, Georgia, with his family when he was 6 years old.
Judge López must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.