District chief judge title goes to Miller

LITTLE ROCK — Brian Miller, who was confirmed as a U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas on April 10, 2008, after being nominated by President George W. Bush, on Monday officially became the district’s chief judge.

U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes held the seven-year position until it transferred to Miller as part of a routine rotation among the district’s full-time judges.

The position went to Miller because he has the most seniority of all the district’s judges who are younger than 65 and haven’t previously served as chief judge.

The duties are largely administrative in nature, “like the chairman of the board,” U.S. District Clerk Jim McCormack said Monday. He said the U.S. Administrative Office of the Courts in Washington, D.C., issues directives to each district through its chief judge, who in turn acts as the spokesman for all the judges in the district.

A document from the Administrative Office’s Office of Judges Programs says a chief judge is regarded as the “first among equals” in the court, acting and speaking for all the judges in the district.

“Substantial legal and functional authority over court administration is vested, directly or indirectly, in the chief judge,” according to the document, dated October 2002.