For nearly 28 years, James W. McCormack has been responsible for managing the administration of the federal courthouse for the Eastern District of Arkansas in a career bookended by two unprecedented events.
Shortly after his career began, a federal lawsuit was filed against a sitting president, and as his career ends, a global pandemic has killed millions of people and upended life for more than a year.
On Friday, July 2, McCormack, 64, will walk out of his office for the final time, retiring after 42 years in service to the federal judiciary. The next Tuesday, his successor and current chief deputy Tammy Downs will step into the clerk's role after being selected by the seven district judges, her appointment announced last week in an administrative order issued by Chief U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr.
"It was time," McCormack said in a recent interview as he reflected on his tenure.
McCormack officially became clerk on Jan. 1, 1994, just four months before Paula Jones filed a federal lawsuit against then-President Bill Clinton, accusing Clinton of sexual harassment, assault and defamation. Journalists from all over the world converged on Little Rock to follow the story.
"I thought I was coming to a sleepy little district and then it all started almost the day I became clerk," he said. "It was unprecedented."
At the other end of his tenure, since March 2020, the task has fallen to McCormack to keep the federal courthouse operating as completely as possible in the face of a pandemic that has forced courts to either cut back operations, suspend operations altogether or adopt creative ways to assist judges in moving their dockets forward.
"Through it all we were able to keep the courthouse doors open, keep the docket moving and keep the public informed," McCormack said, then added, "There's so many things that validate me leaving now. To use a sports analogy, I feel like I've won five Super Bowls as a player/coach."
Born in Kansas City, Mo., in 1956, McCormack has worked within the federal court system for 42 years. His initial ambition, he said, was to enter law enforcement but poor eyesight prevented that. While taking a night class at Rockhurst College (now Rockhurst University) in Kansas City, he attended a lecture on court administration given by the chief deputy clerk of court in the Western District of Missouri.
"I'd never heard of that, the clerk's office, so I was asking questions," McCormack said. "It's kind of funny but I go, 'how much money can a guy make doing that?' because I was married and had a child on the way. So he goes, 'well, you start at about $10,000 a year and within seven years you can probably make almost $28,000 a year.'
"Now this was in 1979," McCormack continued, laughing. "I go, 'almost $30,000 a year in almost seven years? Who could ever need more money than that?'"
McCormack said he contacted the clerk's office, was given a typing test and was told when something opened up he would be considered.
"He said he didn't know when something would open up but I should give him a call that Friday," he said. "This started in April and I gave him a call every Friday afternoon from April until November. He'd answer the phone and go, 'no news Jim,' and he'd hang up."
But one day a vacancy opened up and McCormack was asked if he could start work the next week.
"He hired me, I think, just so I'd quit calling him but I loved it, absolutely loved it," he said. "I think clerk work is different, it's important, it's history, a part of the process, it's unique."
From there, he moved through the federal court system, first in Missouri, then to Washington, Wichita, Kan., and in 1993, to Little Rock.
McCormack recalled his appointment as clerk coincided closely with the appointment of Robert Fiske as the first special prosecutor in the Whitewater investigation that embroiled the Clinton administration in a yearslong controversy.
But it was the lawsuit filed in Little Rock by Jones that drew the worldwide press to McCormack's doorstep and with it, the need for creative solutions to manage the demand for information.
"You have to remember this preceded electronic filing," he said. "We had an electronic case management system but it wasn't a public system as far as actual records. We still had to make copies and hand them out to reporters so that's where we cut our teeth on the internet and we became one of the very first courts to start releasing high-demand documents on scheduled days over the internet because, remember, this was a very high-profile case involving the president of the United States."
The first effort to release those documents, however, created a logjam on the courthouse servers, which quickly crashed.
"We didn't have the capacity so when we first did it I think the whole city went dark because everybody hit the site at once and all the internet servers just went 'rrrrrrr' and they got the wheel of death," McCormack said.
To work around the problem, he and U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright, then the chief judge, worked out an arrangement with The Associated Press' Little Rock bureau to schedule document releases on the AP servers, which could then be accessed by other news outlets.
"That meant instead of hitting our servers, they would hit the AP servers, which could handle the demand," he said. "It was really cool because the press was part of the solution."
Kelly Kissel, then news editor at the AP, recalled that part of the agreement was that AP reporters would be given access to the documents along with all other outlets, with the releases timed to occur after all U.S. media deadlines had passed on the day of the release to prevent West Coast outlets from getting a head start on the East Coast.
"It was strange because it was like here were federal government documents but technology being what it was at the time, they needed an outside source to host this," McCormack said. "What made it easy was that we weren't getting special treatment, we were just doing Jim and the federal court a favor by hosting these documents."
Looking back on the measures taken to manage the volume, McCormack smiled with satisfaction.
"The courthouse was full of people. The sidewalks were full of people. The halls were full of people," he said. "But through all of that the courthouse never became the story."
McCormack said a paramount concern for him to managing the inner workings of the court has always been that the clerk's office manage the administrative affairs efficiently but to do so in a way as to not become the story.
"We do the records, we do the [technology], the procurement, the personnel, the space, the juries and other duties as assigned," he said. "We do all of the administrative functions of the court and let the judges judge."
"So we work for the court, but if we do our jobs, we're not the story," he continued. "We're background people, we're invisible. The judges don't even need to know how that file got on that bench but it's always there. We're judicial servants and we take great pride in that. It's customer service to the court, to the bar, to the public and we like it."
Marshall praised McCormack's abilities and dedication, saying that his leadership had enabled the Eastern District of Arkansas to maintain full operations through the pandemic.
"It was challenging at times but seamless," Marshall said. "He led the team that made sure we were open to do the public's business every day.
"Jim is a master problem solver," the judge continued. "Among his favorite phrases are 'Here are some options', 'What can I do to help', 'Let me work on it,' and 'I see three possible solutions.' I do not recall a single instance when our court has faced a challenge that Jim has not figured out a way to help us handle well."
U.S. District Judge Brian Miller, who served as chief judge from 2012 to 2019, said McCormack came to him immediately after Miller was elevated to the federal bench in 2008.
"I didn't understand really what I needed in the federal court but he showed up in my chambers and said, 'Judge, you're going to need x, y, and z, so here are three options for you and you decide," Miller said. "He made my life easy. When I moved up to being the chief, it was the same thing."
Miller said in addition to managing a full caseload, the chief judge is responsible for ensuring the administrative functions are taken care of, although it is the clerk's office that carries out those functions.
"When I was chief, there were times we would have a problem and by the time it got to me the problem was almost solved and all that was left to me was to say yes or no," he said. "I kind of come from the Leon Holmes, Susan Webber Wright wing of chiefs where you put good people in place and let them do their jobs. Because that's how I wanted to be chief, having Jim McCormack in place was invaluable."
Acting U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ross described McCormack as an excellent public servant who has kept the courthouse running efficiently regardless of the circumstances.
"He runs a tight ship over there," Ross said. "He has to wade through a lot of different pressures and he does it with professionalism and a smile. If you call and ask him to get something done, it's going to get done."
Downs, who will begin as the new clerk after the July 4 weekend, said she is well situated to succeed thanks to McCormack's tenure. She noted that all but three employees in the clerk's office were hired by McCormack and trained according to his specifications.
"He interviewed and selected us all and worked on our training and development and he's just been a fantastic clerk," she said. "I'm excited to work with the staff and continue that tradition of excellence in our district."
McCormack said that he and his wife of 25 years, Tamara, a teacher at Little Rock Central High School, plan to remain in Arkansas.
"From the time I was a kid I always felt like I wanted to be where there are hills and tall pine trees," he said. "When I came to Arkansas in 1993, I looked around and said to myself, 'yeah, this is it. This is home.'"