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Congratulations to National Black Catholic Congress Team Leader, Renee Harris Toliver, history maker!
By Melody Mcdonald via the Star Telegram
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FORT WORTH -- Barring any last-minute hiccups, longtime federal prosecutor Renee Harris Toliver will soon become the first African-American to sit on the federal magistrate bench in the Northern District of Texas.

Toliver, 49, was chosen by the district judges of the Northern District, which includes Dallas and Fort Worth, to succeed U.S. Magistrate Judge William F. Sanderson Jr., who retires March 31.

She will be officially appointed in 10 to 12 weeks after a background check.

"It has been a dream and it still feels like a dream, really," Toliver said. "I can't even imagine in 2010 being the one making history, but I am really proud. A lot of people made this possible for me, which I am reminded of during Black History Month. Lots of people prodded me and pushed me and shaped me into the person I am."

Karen Mitchell, U.S. district clerk for the Northern District, said she looks forward to working with Toliver, who will serve an eight-year term. Magistrate judges, whose activities are supervised by U.S. district judges, perform a variety of functions, including presiding over pretrial matters in criminal cases.

"We are very excited about having her come onboard," Mitchell said.

Toliver, a 1978 graduate of Dunbar High School, grew up in a single-parent home in economically depressed areas of Fort Worth. As a child, she became hooked on the hit TV show Perry Mason and decided to become a lawyer.

Later, her inspiration came from lawyer Patricia Roberts Harris, the first African-American woman to serve in the Cabinet after being appointed by President Jimmy Carter.

Toliver received a bachelor's degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and a juris doctorate from the University of Texas School of Law in Austin.

After working as a child welfare attorney for the Texas Department of Human Services and as an assistant attorney general, Toliver became a prosecutor in the Tarrant County district attorney's office.

Toliver rose through the ranks at the office, becoming chief of the gang unit in 1993. That year, she tried 15 consecutive homicide cases, earning her the nickname "Murder Queen."

"They used to tease me and call me that because that is all I seemed to try," she said. "Those were the cases I was drawn to, probably because they had to do with my background and where I grew up."

The next year, Toliver, then the highest-ranking African-American prosecutor in Tarrant County, tried to unseat Judge Scott Wisch of the 372nd District Court. She lost, garnering 45 percent of the vote to Wisch's 55 percent.

In January 1995, Toliver moved to the U.S. attorney's office in Fort Worth, where she was the only prosecutor assigned to the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, specializing in the prosecution of large drug organizations.

"Hopefully, you take down a whole gang and try to make a difference," Toliver said.

More than seven years ago, Toliver moved to the appellate section.

Toliver credits her success to her mother and grandmother -- strong women "who helped me find my way here," she said.

"I'm really grateful to my mother, who is very close and supportive of me, and especially to my grandmother, who is a community leader in her own right," she said. "Any success I have, I owe to them and I honor them."

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