Abdul Kallon

Abdul Karim Kallon (born April 5, 1969) is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama and is a former nominee to be a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Early life and education

Born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Kallon earned an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Dartmouth College in 1990. He then earned a Juris Doctor in 1993 from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he served as Articles Editor for the University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Business Law.

Kallon served as a law clerk for United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama Judge U. W. Clemon from 1993 until 1994.

Professional career

From 1994 to his judicial appointment, Kallon worked in private legal practice in Birmingham, Alabama. He practiced labor and employment law as a partner at the Birmingham law firm Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP.

Federal judicial service

On July 31, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Kallon to be a judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. Kallon was nominated for the seat vacated by Clemon, who retired earlier in 2009. According to news accounts, Kallon had been recommended for the judgeship by a panel of legal experts assembled by U.S. Rep. Artur Davis. However, his name was not on a list of candidates compiled by a committee of the Alabama Democratic Party.

The United States Senate confirmed Kallon to his judgeship by unanimous consent on November 21, 2009. He received his commission on January 4, 2010.

On February 11, 2016 President Obama nominated Kallon to serve as a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, to the seat vacated by Judge Joel Fredrick Dubina, who took senior status on October 26, 2013. His nomination expired on January 3, 2017, with the end of the 114th Congress.