Home County: St Louis County

Term of service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: October 1995 - July 2007

Judge Ronnie L. White is from St. Louis, Missouri. He obtained his associate degree from St. Louis Community College in 1977[i] and earned his bachelor of arts in political science from Saint Louis University in 1979.[ii] He continued his education at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. While attending UMKC, White served as a representative on the student council and as president of the Black Law Student Association.[iii] He also gained professional experience by serving as a legal intern for the Jackson County prosecutor[iv] and later working as a legal assistant for the United States Department of Defense Mapping Agency.[v]

After passing the Missouri bar in 1983,[vi] White served as a trial attorney for the public defender’s office, in both the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County.[vii]  He was in the private practice of law at the Cahill, White and Hemphill law firm from April 1987 until May 1993.[viii] In 1989, White was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives. While in office, he served as the chairman of the House Judiciary and Ethics Committee and the Civil and Criminal Justice Committee.[ix]  White resigned his position as a representative in May 1993, after serving three terms, to become city counselor to St. Louis Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr.[x]

A year later, Governor Mel Carnahan appointed White to the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District.[xi] Judge White also was an adjunct faculty member for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy until he was appointed by Governor Carnahan in October 1995 to serve on the Supreme Court of Missouri.[xii] His appointment was historic because Judge White was the first African-American to serve on the Court. [xiii] He was retained in 1996. In July 2003, Judge White became the first African-American to serve as Missouri’s chief justice.

Judge White served a two-year term as chief justice, through June 2005. Judge White retired from the Court in July 2007.[xiv] He then reentered the private practice of law in St. Louis.[xv] In 2014, President Barack Obama nominated Judge White for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, and he was confirmed. He continues to serve in that position.[xvi]  

Judge White has received several awards and honors throughout his judicial career from various organizations, including the Theodore McMillian Judicial Excellence Award (2015),[xvii] Mound City Bar Association Distinguished Jurist Award (2007, 2008),[xviii] Mound City Bar Association Legal Legend Award (2006, 2007),[xix] the Mound City Bar Association First African American Presiding Judge Award (2003),[xx] the distinguished Lawyer Award, and the Gallery of St. Louis Legal Pioneer Award, by the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, (2003).[xxi] Other awards include: Supreme Court of Missouri, Chief Justice Award (2007, 2008),[xxii] University of Missouri- Columbia School of Law, Distinguished Non-Alumni Award (2002),[xxiii] and Honorary Doctor of Laws from both Harris-Stowe State Community College in St. Louis and Saint Louis University (2000).[xxiv] Judge White has also been a member of numerous associations  and led multiple commissions, including chair of the Appellate Judicial Commission (2003-2005),[xxv] honorary co-chair for the Missourians for Fair and Impartial Courts Committee (2007-2009).[xxvi] He has been a member of the St. Louis County Bar Association since 2007,[xxvii] the Mound City Bar Association and the Metropolitan Bar Association since 1985.[xxviii]