The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has its first black chief judge. Monday was Judge Carl E. Stewart's first day as chief judge of the New Orleans-based appeals court. The Shreveport resident succeeds Judge Edith H. Jones, who stepped down from the post. 62-year-old Stewart has served as a state judge in Caddo Parish and was later elected to Louisiana's 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. The 5th Circuit hears appeals from cases in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.