Jack Tarpley Camp Jr.

On December 18, 1987, Camp was nominated by President Reagan to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia vacated by Moye. Camp was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 19, 1988, and received his commission on April 20, 1988. He served as Chief Judge from 2006 to 2008.[4]

After Camp was nominated, Fowler introduced him to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

That fall, after a series of contentious hearings, the Senate rejected Reagan's United States Supreme Court nomination of Robert Bork, then a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. By the time Camp appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee, it was near the end of Reagan's second term, and the Senate had failed to confirm 35 of his judicial nominees.

But with the support of both of Georgia's Democratic senators and United States Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, then the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Camp said his nomination was approved. Thurmond backed Camp because he was a The Citadel graduate, the judge recalled, telling the Senate committee, "All you need to know about this next man is that he graduated from the finest military institution in the country."

Larry Lonchar: In 1995 Camp issued a temporary stay of execution for convicted killer Larry Lonchar two hours before he was to die. Lonchar claimed he wanted to be executed but contended that he wanted to die by lethal injection, not in the electric chair, to preserve his organs for donation. The stay was later overturned by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Secretary of State Karen Handel: Camp has handled several voting rights cases and sat on a three-judge panel with U.S. District Judge William S. Duffey Jr. and Eleventh U.S. Circuit Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr. regarding a request for an injunction against Georgia's Secretary of State Handel. The case centered on Handel's decision to purge voter lists statewide and her notice to more than 50,000 registered voters that they were potentially ineligible to vote. The panel decided that voters flagged as potentially ineligible could vote in the election but would have to use a challenged ballot.

DeKalb County Sheriff-elect Derwin Brown assassination: Melvin D. Walker and David I. Ramsey were charged with joining in the December 2000 assassination of DeKalb County Sheriff-elect Derwin Brown. DeKalb Sheriff Sidney Dorsey, whom Brown had beaten in a runoff election in the fall of 2000, was eventually convicted of arranging Brown's murder. Walker, a deputy and former Marine sharpshooter, had been identified as the triggerman who pumped 12 bullets into Brown. Ramsey was identified as one of the backup shooters at the scene. After a DeKalb jury acquitted Walker and Ramsey of Brown's murder in 2002, federal prosecutors launched their own investigation, securing a grand jury indictment in 2004 charging the two men with using interstate communications—cell phones—to facilitate Brown's murder. Camp sentenced the two men to serve life without parole.

Physician Philip Astin: Philip C. Astin, III, 52, of Carrollton, Georgia, was sentenced by Camp to serve 10 years in federal prison for his conviction on 175 counts of illegally dispensing prescription drugs from 2002 until his arrest in 2007. [5]

State Representative Walter Ronnie Sailor, Jr.: Walter Ronnie ("Ron") Sailor, Jr., 33, of Norcross, Georgia, was sentenced by Camp on charges of money laundering and wire fraud.[6]

Professional Wrestler "Hardbody" Harrison Norris: Cedric Jackson, 41, of Atlanta, Georgia and Aimee Allen, 37, formerly of Cartersville, Georgia, and now of Clarence, New York, were sentenced by Camp on charges of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking, related to a sex trafficking organization led by former professional wrestler Harrison Norris Jr. Michelle Achuff, 25, of Lafayette, Tennessee, and Leslie Smith, 22, of Macon, Georgia, were also sentenced for making false statements to FBI agents regarding Norris' criminal activities.[7][8]

After he turned 65 in October 2008, Camp notified President George W. Bush that he would be taking senior status on December 31, 2008.[4]

On October 1, 2010, Camp, who is married with two grown children, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.[1] On October 4, Camp was arraigned in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on charges of purchasing the drugs cocaine, marijuana, hydrocodone and roxicodone, which he shared with an exotic dancer with whom he was having sexual relations for the previous several months. He was also charged with firearms possession. He was released on $50,000 bond.[3][9] The stripper, who had a previous drug conviction, had been working with the FBI, in exchange for which no charges would be brought against her.[1]

According to the complaint by the FBI agent, from Spring 2010 through about October 1, 2010, Camp had possessed controlled substances and firearms in violation of Title 21 of the United States Code, Sections 844(a), 846, and Title 18 of the United States Code, Sections 922(g)(3) and 2.[10]

Camp was charged with four drug-related charges and one count of firearm possession while illegally using drugs.[1]

Judges and attorneys in Georgia, Washington, D.C., and Alabama sought to find someone to oversee the criminal case against Camp and to reassign his caseload. Camp agreed to allow the District Court to reassign all of his pending civil and criminal cases to another judge and to step down from the bench in what was "analogous to a leave of absence" with pay.[11]

The entire Northern District of Georgia bench was recused, and Camp first appeared before a visiting U.S. magistrate judge from the Middle District of Alabama in Montgomery. Another visiting judge, United States District Judge J. Frederick Motz of the District of Maryland, was named temporarily by Chief Justice John Roberts to preside over Camp's criminal case.[11]

Joel F. Dubina, Chief Judge of the Eleventh Circuit, said that after consulting with general counsel of the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts, he had postponed taking any action regarding misconduct proceedings against Camp until after the criminal charges were resolved. Federal rules give Dubina the authority to appoint a committee of circuit and district judges to investigate judicial misconduct.[11]

On November 19, 2010, Camp pleaded guilty to the felony charge of aiding and abetting a felon's possession of a controlled substance and to two misdemeanors: illegally giving the stripper his government-issued laptop and possession of illegal drugs. As part of the plea, Camp retired from the bench.[1][12] Prosecutors requested that Camp serve at least 15 days in custody, with sentencing initially set for March 4, 2011.[13] On March 11, 2011, Camp was sentenced to 30 days in prison, plus a fine and community service.[14]