Carney was a wide receiver on the UCLA Bruins 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 in the 1983 Rose Bowl. He played for the USFL team Memphis Showboats in the 1984 season. Carney made 37 receptions for 701 yards and 2 touchdowns. In 2005, Carney was inducted into the College Sports Information Director's of America Academic All-America Hall of Fame. Inducted into the Air Force Academy Preparatory School Hall of Fame in 2011.
Legal and judicial career
Carney was in private practice for two firms in Los Angeles 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. On January 7, 2003, Carney was nominated by President George W. Bush to a seat on the United States District Court for the Central District of California vacated by Carlos R. Moreno. Carney was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 7, 2003, and received his commission on April 9, 2003. He became Chief Judge on June 1, 2020. 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. On July 16, 2014, Carney declared the California death penalty to be unconstitutional, saying it is so arbitrary and plagued with delays that it violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. In his 29-page order he vacated the death sentence of Ernest Dewayne Jones, who was sentenced to death in 1995 for rape and murder. The order was appealed by then California Attorney General Kamala Harris. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on August 31, 2015, and in a unanimous decision overturned the decision on November 12, 2015. Judge Carney was involved in a 2012 decision to dismiss the bulk of the claims in Fazaga v. FBI.
Tenure as Chief Judge
Judge Carney succeeded Virginia A. Phillips as Chief Judge of the Central District of California on June 1, 2020. However, he stepped down on June 26, 2020 in light of allegations that he had made racially insensitive comments regarding the Clerk of the Court, Kiry Gray, referring to her as "street smart". He was succeeded as Chief Judge by Philip S. Gutierrez.
Personal
He and wife MaryBeth have three children, Thomas, John, and Claire.
