Tucker L. Melancon

Tucker L. Melancon
Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana
In office February 11, 1994 – February 14, 2009
Nominated by	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Tom Stagg
Succeeded by	Elizabeth Erny Foote
Personal details
Born	February 3, 1946 Bryan, Texas, U.S.
Alma mater	Louisiana State University Tulane Law School

Tucker Lee Melancon (born February 3, 1946)^[1] is an American judge who serves on the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana in Lafayette, Louisiana. He joined the court in 1994 after being nominated by President Bill Clinton. He is serving on senior status.

Education and career

Melancon graduated from Louisiana State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1968. He finished studies at Tulane Law School in 1973. He was a managing partner at Melancon & Rabalais, private practice with his colleague, Rodney M. Rabalais, in Marksville, Louisiana, 1973-1993.

On the unanimous recommendation of Louisiana U.S. Senators John Breaux and Bennett Johnston, Melancon was nominated by President Clinton on November 18, 1993 to a seat vacated by Tom Stagg as Stagg assumed senior status. Melancon was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on February 10, 1994 on a senate vote and received his commission the following day.

Bar Admissions^[2]

• Louisiana, 1973
• United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, 1974
• United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 1979
• United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, 1980
• United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, 1985
• United States Supreme Court, 1985

Notable cases

Melancon has presided over a number of cases in his judicial tenure of fifteen years. He has heard a variety of trials, including class action, tax evasion, drug trafficking, cross burning, as well as issues where the First Amendment and Clean Water Act standards were at stake or being violated. However, his legacy might be his devotion to desegregation in public schools in the parishes which fall under his jurisdiction; St. Landry, Evangeline, and Franklin, among others.^[3][4]

He sentenced one Evangeline Parish board member to ten days of incarceration with three days suspension, as well as high fines for criminal contempt (or contempt of court) a charge to which the board member had pleaded guilty for attempting to manipulate a court-ordered employment process.^[5] One fine, US $3,000, was, according to Melancon, retribution for what he said was the board member's violation of the court's desegregation order.^[6] Melancon was cited in one Fifth Circuit decision as having been "heavy-handed" and tending towards "over management" in his dealings with the parish school boards on the desegregation issues^[7]

In November 2009, Melancon was a visiting judge presiding over cases relating to the Staten Island ferry disaster in New York.^[8]

Cancer

Melancon was diagnosed with stage-three breast cancer in 2003.^[9] After undergoing a mastectomy, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy, the cancer went into remission but resurfaced three years later.^[9] His wife, Diana Moore, helped him carve out a raw foods diet they learned from the Hippocrates Health Institute in Palm Beach, Florida.^[9]

Quotes

• "Nothing is more sacred than the First Amendment... You don't change the standard just because it involves minors." He said these words in August 2000 during the Skate Zone trial in Iberia Parish.^[10]

Other Roles

• Board Member, National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship^[11]
• President, Avoyelles Parish Bar Association (1977-1978
• House of Delegates, Louisiana State Bar Association (1973-1975 and 1990-1994)
• Bar Association for the First and Fifth Federal Circuits
• Federal Bar Association (New Orleans chapter)
• Louisiana Bar Foundation
• American Judicature Society
• Member, American Inns of Court:
  • Judge Fred Fudickar Chapter
  • Cross-Roads American Inn of Court of Alexandria-Pineville Chapter
  • John M. Dube Chapter
• Louisiana Workers' Compensation Advisory Board (1990-1991)
• Committee to Study Backlog in the Courts of Appeal, First and Third Circuits, by appointment of the Louisiana Supreme Court, 1991
• American Trial Lawyers' Association
• President Advisory Board, Louisiana Trial Lawyers' Association

Footnotes

1. Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2005.
2. Lawyer Directory
3. Consent Decree, Civil Action #15,632 (Monroe Division) US District Court, Western District of Louisiana
4. Burgess, Richard (December 15, 2006) "School system's deadline remains". Baton Rouge Advocate
5. Vosper, Yuwa (December 15, 2006) "Board member gets jail time". Daily World
6. Burgess, Richard (December 16, 2006) "Savoy serving three days in jail". Baton Rouge Advocate
7. Burgess, Richard (May 18, 2005) "5th Circuit criticizes judge's "heavy-handed ... style" in desegregation case.
8. New York Daily News article on visiting Judge Melancon
9. " "Federal judge uses special diet in his fight against cancer" by Donna Britt, WAFB, TV Channel 9 news, December 25, 2008
10. "Owner asks judge to reopen skating rink closed for playing 'vulgar' music." Associated Press (August 3, 2000)
11. Board member's information, National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship

Further reading

• Burgess, Richard: "Federal judge plans Evangeline School Board investigation". Baton Rouge Advocate. September 17, 2005
• Burgess, Richard: "Family gets new cocaine case trial". Baton Rouge Advocate. September 1, 2006.

External links

• Tucker L. Melancon at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• Bean, Alan: "Snitch Testimony on Trial". March 30, 2006
• Bean, Alan: "Dispatches from Cajun Hell". July 14, 2006
• Burgess, Richard: "Five Sentenced For Lying to Get Lawsuit Payments". November 17, 2006
• McElfresh, Amanda: "Family Cleared in Drug Case". December 16, 2006
• Louisiana Bar Foundation