NEW ORLEANS (October 1, 2012)--The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has its first black chief judge.

The 5th Circuit hears appeals from cases in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Monday was Judge Carl E. Stewart's first day as chief judge of the appeals court.

Stewart, 62, of Shreveport, La., succeeds Judge Edith H. Jones, who stepped down from the post.

President Bill Clinton appointed Stewart to the court in 1994.

Before that he served as a state judge in Caddo Parish and was elected to Louisiana's 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal.

Stewart received his undergraduate degree from Dillard University in 1971 and graduated from Loyola University's law school in New Orleans in 1974.