Ira De Ment

Ira De Ment (1931-2011) was a United States federal judge.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, De Ment received a B.S. from the University of Alabama in 1953 and a J.D. from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1958. He was a law clerk, Hon. Pelham J. Merrill, Supreme Court of Alabama from 1958 to 1959, when he briefly served as an assistant state attorney general of Alabama, and then as an assistant United States Attorney of the Middle District of Alabama from 1959 to 1961. He was in private practice in Montgomery, Alabama from 1961 to 1969, working as an assistant city attorney for the City of Montgomery, Alabama from 1965 to 1969. He was the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama from 1969 to 1977, returning to private practice in Montgomery until 1992. He was a special counsel to Albamaba Governor Fob James from 1980 to 1982, to Governor George C. Wallace from 1983 to 1986, and to Governor Guy Hunt from 1987–1988, and in 1991. He was the Chief Judge of the Wake Island Court of Appeals from 1985 to 1992.

De Ment was also in the United States Army Reserve from 1953 to 1974, achieving the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, JAG Corps from 1982 to 1986, achieving the rank of Major General.

On November 14, 1991, De Ment was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to a seat on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama vacated by Truman M. Hobbs. De Ment was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 13, 1992, and received his commission on March 18, 1992. He assumed senior status on April 15, 2002. On July 17, 2011, he died after a long battle with Parkinson's Disease.

Sources