[3] On January 14, 2002, he took the oath of office to be a Superior Court Judge on the Gwinnett Judicial Circuit,[3] a position in which he served for ten years.

[9] On January 3, 2018, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate.

[10] On January 5, 2018, President Donald Trump announced his intent to renominate Ray to a federal judgeship.

The Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials and other civil rights groups sued the Office of the Secretary of State of Georgia, and the Gwinnett County elections board in Federal District Court, arguing that the mailing of mail-in ballot applications for the 2020 general election (which were only in English) should also have been sent in the Spanish language in Gwinnett County, which has a significant Spanish-speaking population.

Judge Ray dismissed the suit in October 2020, ruling that the plaintiffs lacked standing and the English-only mailings did not violate the Voting Rights Act.