Early life and education

Carney was born in Detroit, Michigan

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

 to Irish immigrant parents. He was raised in Long Beach, California

Long Beach, California

Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...

, where he attended St. Anthony High School

St. Anthony High School (California)

St. Anthony High School, commonly referred to as SA, is a private, Roman Catholic high school located in the downtown area of Long Beach, California. As of the 2010-2011 school year, the school had 375 students enrolled in grades 9 through 12. It is served by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los...

. Carney received a B.A.

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 from the University of California, Los Angeles

University of California, Los Angeles

The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...

 in 1983 and a J.D.

Juris Doctor

Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...

 from Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

 in 1987. He attended the U.S. Air Force Academy for one year before transferring to UCLA.

College football career

Carney was a wide receiver on the UCLA Bruins

UCLA Bruins

The UCLA Bruins are the sports teams for University of California, Los Angeles . The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pacific-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation . For football, they are in the Football Bowl Subdivision of Division I...

 football team. During his three years with the Bruins, he was the team leader in receiving each year and had a 3.51 grade point average in psychology.

For his outstanding performances on the football field, he was named to the GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America football team and to the All-Pacific-10 Conference teams in 1981 and 1982. He was the Bruins' all-time leading receiver with over 100 receptions for nearly 2,000 yards when UCLA was 26-7-2. The Bruins were rated as high as #5 in the national polls. Carney's highlight at UCLA was when the team beat Michigan

Michigan Wolverines

The Michigan Wolverines comprise 27 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except men's ice hockey which competes in the NCAA D1 Central Collegiate Hockey Association, and women's water polo, which...

 in the 1983 Rose Bowl

1983 Rose Bowl

The 1983 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game, played on January 1, 1983. It was the 69th Rose Bowl game. The UCLA Bruins defeated the Michigan Wolverines by a score of 24-14. Tom Ramsey, UCLA quarterback and Don Rogers, UCLA defensive back, were named the Rose Bowl Players Of The Game...

.

He played for one year on the Memphis Showboats

Memphis Showboats

The Memphis Showboats were a franchise in the United States Football League. They entered the league in its expansion in 1984 and made the 1985 playoffs, losing in the semifinal round to the Oakland Invaders...

 USFL team, before entering Harvard Law School.

Legal and judicial career

Carney was in private practice for two firms in Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

 for 15 years. From 2001 to 2003, he was a judge on the California Superior Court in Orange County, appointed to the post by then Governor Gray Davis

Gray Davis

Joseph Graham "Gray" Davis, Jr. is an American Democratic politician who served as California's 37th Governor from 1999 until being recalled in 2003...

.

On January 7, 2003, Carney was nominated by President George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

 to a seat on the United States District Court for the Central District of California

United States District Court for the Central District of California

The United States District Court for the Central District of California serves over 18 million people in southern and central California, making it the largest federal judicial district by population...

 vacated by Carlos R. Moreno. Carney was confirmed by the United States Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 on April 7, 2003, and received his commission on April 9, 2003. At the district court, Carney has handled complex civil and criminal matters, including patents, copyrights, trademarks, securities, business finance, civil rights, drug conspiracies and white collar crime.

In 2005, Carney was inducted into the College Sports Information Director's of America Academic All-America Hall of Fame.

He and wife Mary have two children, Colin and Michelle.

External links