Reed Charles O'Connor

Reed Charles O'Connor
Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Assumed office
November 21, 2007
Appointed by George W. Bush
Preceded by A. Joe Fish
Personal details
Born Reed Charles O'Connor
1965 (age 52–53)
Houston, Texas
Education University of Houston (B.S.)
South Texas College of Law (J.D.)

Reed Charles O'Connor (born 1965) is a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Early life and career

Born in Houston, Texas, O'Connor received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Houston in 1986 and a Juris Doctor from South Texas College of Law in 1989. He was in private practice in Texas from 1989 to 1994 and an assistant district attorney with the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office in Fort Worth, Texas from 1994 to 1998. O'Connor then served as Assistant United States Attorney of the Northern District of Texas from 1998 to 2007. From 2003 to 2007, he worked on the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary.[1]

Federal judicial career

On June 27, 2007, O'Connor was nominated by President George W. Bush to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas vacated by A. Joe Fish. The United States Senate confirmed O'Connor's appointment on November 16, 2007, and he received his commission on November 21, 2007.[1]

Notable cases

On August 21, 2016, O'Connor made a ruling against the Obama administration dealing with the government's interpretation of Title IX rules. The guidance from the White House was issued in May 2016, and addresses the Title IX requirement that schools receiving federal funding not discriminate against students on the basis of sex. O'Connor ruled that the new guidelines did not receive proper notice and comment prior to publication, and that Title IX and its implementing regulation are "not ambiguous" as to the "plain meaning of the term sex as used". As such, he issued a nationwide injunction preventing them from being enforced with respect to students' access to "intimate facilities."[2]

On December 31, 2016, in a separate case, O'Connor blocked the Obama administration’s regulations implementing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded health programs) for a "likely" violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and what he said was an improper inclusion of gender identity discrimination.[3]

On October 5, 2018, O'Connor overturned 250 years of Indian sovereignty law and ruled that the Indian Child Welfare Act was unconstitutional. The ICWA was a 40-year-old landmark piece of legislation protecting tribal children from exploitation, designed to keep Native families together, and inspired by an attempt to reverse decades of state courts stripping Native children away from Native families. O'Connor's ruling ignored decades of direct federal government-to-government relationship and precedent that have upheld tribal sovereignty and the rights of Indian children and families. [4]

References

  1. 1 2 "O`Connor, Reed Charles". Biographical Directory of Federal Judges. Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  2. ↑ Domonoske, Camila (August 22, 2016). "U.S. Judge Grants Nationwide Injunction Blocking White House Transgender Policy". NPR. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  3. ↑ Zaveri, Mihir (December 31, 2016). "Texas judge blocks transgender policy". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Texas judge strikes down Indian Child Welfare Act in contested ruling". Indianz.com. October 5, 2018. Retrieved October 8, 2018.

Sources

Legal offices
Preceded by
A. Joe Fish		 Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas
2007–present		 Incumbent
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