The son of a long-serving federal judge, Judge John Kazen is President Biden’s first nominee to the Texas district courts.
Background
John Andrew Kazen was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1964, the son of George Kazen, who would later be appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Kazen graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1987 and received a J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center in 1990. After graduating, Kazen spent a year as a law clerk to Judge Robert Manley Parker on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas before joining Kemp, Smith, Duncan & Hammond P.C. in El Paso. In 1998, Kazen shifted to became a name Partner at Kazen, Meurer & Perez, L.L.P. in Laredo.
In 2018, Kazen was appointed as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, where he currently serves.
History of the Seat
Kazen has been nominated to fill a vacancy opened by Judge Vanessa Gilmore’s retirement on January 2, 2022.
Legal Experience
Before he joined the federal bench, Kazen spent approximately twenty-six years in private practice, starting in El Paso and then shifting to Laredo. Kazen’s practice was primarily focused on representing defendants in personal injury cases. During the course of his career, he tried 18 jury trials. For example, Kazen represented the tile manufacturer Interceramic in a suit brought by a plaintiff truck driver based on injuries sustained dring the transport of the tiles. See Garcia-Gutierrez v. Interceramic, Inc., No. B-98-128 (S.D. Tex. 1998). The suit concluded in a jury verdict in favor of the defendant.
Outside the personal injury context, Kazen represented the security company ADT in a civil RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) lawsuit against another security company relating to the sales of security systems in Mexico. See ADT Security Services, S.A. De C.V. v. Alert 24 Security, L.L.C., No. 2006CVQ001051-D2 (111th Dist. Ct., Webb Cnty. Tx.). He represented the company to a jury trial, where the jury found in his favor on the RICO claim but against him on the other claims.
Kazen has also handled a number of employment discrimination cases. For example, he represented the Texas Migrant Council in defending against a national origin discrimination suit, which ended in a jury verdict for Kazen’s client. See Alvarez v. Tex. Migrant Council, Inc., No. 5:2000-cv-00153 (S.D. Tex. 2000). In another case, Kazen successfully moved for summary judgment in a national origin discrimination case brought by a teacher against the Laredo Independent School District. See Garza v. Laredo Indep. Sch. Dist., 2009 WL 221258 (5th Cir. 2009).
Jurisprudence
Since 2018, Kazen has been a federal magistrate judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. In this role, Kazen presides over bond hearings, discovery disputes, and cases where the parties consent to his jurisdiction. During his tenure on the bench, Kazen has presided over eight trials: seven of them civil. For example, Kazen presided over a bench trial involving a Federal Tort Claims Act suit after a Border Patrol agent shot the plaintiff, after which, Kazen granted a motion to dismiss, finding that sovereign immunity was not waived for the specific actions of the border patrol agent. See Cantu Silva v. United States, No. 5:19-CV-151 (S.D. Tex. Oct 31, 2022).
In another notable case, Kazen granted a motion to dismiss Section 1983 claims brought relating to the arrest of a citizen journalist by the Laredo police, finding that the officers were entitled to qualified immunity. See Villarreal v. City of Laredo, 44 F.4th 363 (5th Cir. 2022). The Fifth Circuit, in a 2-1 opinion, reversed, finding the violation of the plaintiff’s rights to be “obvious.” See id. at 367. In dissent, Chief Judge Priscilla Richman stated that Kazen “faithfully applied the law” in his decision. Id. at 382. Shortly after, the Fifth Circuit granted en banc rehearing to the decision, vacating the reversal.
Political Activity
Kazen has been a frequent donor to Democratic candidates for office, including multiple donations to President Obama and to Rep. Henry Cuellar.
Overall Assessment
With Texas’ federal judges among the most overworked in the country, the nomination of Kazen couldn’t come fast enough. As Kazen has the strong support of Texas’ Republican Senators, he is likely to be comfortably confirmed before the end of the year.
The Vetting Room 
A good consensus pick here with a vast amount of experience. Following a uncontroversial hearing, I’d expect Kazen to be swiftly confirmed with few issues, especially with TX having a slew of judicial emergencies.
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If the Democrats prioritize Kazen’s nomination, he’ll be confirmed quickly with little opposition.
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Any chance he can get confirmed with a just voice vote?
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This is a good compromise pick for a Ruby red state like Texas. I am hoping for a quick confirmation, preferably voice vote before Thanksgiving.
I am still upset we got Ramirez for the 5th & all we got in return is one of the eight Texas district court vacancies with a nominee. I am hopeful after seeing senator Cruz say they are now focused on filling the El Paso vacancies due to the border & El Paso having three vacancies, that perhaps we will be on our way to having nominees for half the state’s vacancies before Christmas.
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The judicial emergencies in red states like Texas and Florida are why I think blue slips for district court seats should go the way of the dinosaur.
Also @Harsh, any updates on possibly moving over to Substack. I’m still not getting all my e-mail notifications even after I specifically select that I want them.
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Solid red state nominee a b plus . If this was the fifth circuit nominee biden nominated instead of ramirez it would have been excellent. its a shame we havent seen alot of judges confirmed this few weeks.
Here is a law news article about biden judges titled
”Biden-Appointed Judges Share Paths From Civil Rights Work to the Bench”
Its pay walled but it features nancy abudu, myrna perez and others giving their stories. If anyone has the full article without the pay wall please post on here for everyone.
Tidbit from the article
”Abudu said Judge Myrna Perez of the Second Circuit, who was previously a voting rights advocate, gave her helpful advice: Don’t read news about your nomination”
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https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/2023/10/19/biden-appointed-judges-share-paths-from-civil-rights-work-to-the-bench/
Solid red state nominee a b plus . If this was the fifth circuit nominee biden nominated instead of ramirez it would have been excellent. its a shame we havent seen alot of judges confirmed this few weeks.
Here is a law news article (above)about biden judges titled
”Biden-Appointed Judges Share Paths From Civil Rights Work to the Bench”
Its pay walled but it features nancy abudu, myrna perez and others giving their stories. If anyone has the full article without the pay wall please post on here for everyone.
Tidbit from the article
”Abudu said Judge Myrna Perez of the Second Circuit, who was previously a voting rights advocate, gave her helpful advice: Don’t read news about your nomination”
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SJC Meeting wrapped up. Butler’s subcommittee assignments were formally approved, as it was her first appearance at one of these meetings.
Kasubhai and Lee were held over as expected, due to Padilla’s absence.
Kazen was voice voted (no Senators recorded as no, so possible voice vote on the floor?)
Semper (DNJ) was 13-8 (Graham and Kennedy)
Park (DHI) was 12-9 (Graham)
Smith (DHI) was 14-7 (Graham, Kennedy, Tillis)
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And let’s not leave out senator Durbin’s parade for blue slips. He actually spent about two minutes defending blue slips & thanking the Texas senators for working in good faith. You know, the Texas senators that we have gotten two nominees for nine vacancies in the state…smh
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Texas is a big state so they can fill 2 out of the 9 vacancies and pretend like they are working in good faith when in reality they are holding the other 7 seats open. Senators in states with only 1 vacancy can’t do this.
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The committee favorably reported out Kazen (voice), Park (12-9), Semper (13-8), Smith (14-7). As expected, Kasubhai and Lee were held over since Padilla is still out with COVID.
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The committee favorably reported out Kazen (voice), Park (12-9), Semper (13-8), and Smith (14-7). As expected, Kasubhai and Lee were held over since Padilla is still out with COVID.
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I agree with others here, Kazen is a fine pick. Give me more of these, please.
Echoing what Dequan said, I hope El Paso is up next with 2-3 nominees.
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I’m just glad Republicans didn’t try to block Butler from being seated on the SJC. That would have been an absolute nightmare had the committee stayed 10-10, especially since deadlock votes can’t be discharged anymore.
Durbin spent a lot of time praising Texas senators for working on nominations, but there still are ton of open District Court seats in TX.
But we’re running out of nominees again, and the WH continues to lag behind. Either Ron Klain was great at his job, or his replacement is the absolute worst..
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I’d expect another batch of nominees on November 1 and again on November 15. The WH is definitely subscribing to the slow trickle method of naming nominees.
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Be on the lookout for cloture votes today, Schumer did announce he’d file cloture on Lew (Israel Ambassador), not sure what else would be in the pipeline.
I know next week they’ll still largely be voting on minibus amendments. There were 40 of them set for roll call votes, but I believe about 25 of them got voice voted in one batch yesterday, so that would help a lot.
As it stands now, only the two Oklahoma nominees would be eligible for the 11/15 hearing, I’m hoping de Alba is confirmed by then so that Sherriff could be sent to the Senate and at least get three nominees into that hearing, if it’s just Russell/Hill they probably get shafted to the 11/30 hearing (if there’s additional nominees by then).
On a funny note, normally Schumer closes up shop every night in the Senate, sometimes it does go to another member in the majority party, last night it was Manchin that wrapped up yesterday’s session. He’s the last person I’d expect in situations like that considering where he stands in the party lol
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Looks like cloture was filed on Matthew Maddox, along with Lew. So still light on nominees next week as they continue with appropriations.
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Schumer filed cloture on one judge. As usual, everything is baby steps with nominations anymore. The WH sends 1-2 nominees to the senate. Schumer files cloture on 1-2 nominees.
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I’ve noticed that a lot of times, Schumer will file an easy judge vote to start off the week so that he can get a sense for how many Senators will be around.
Once he knows he has a full house, he’ll then file cloture on the judges who will be trickier votes. For instance, Schumar filed cloture for Dale Ho, Nancy Abudu, Rachel Bloomekatz, Nusrat Choudhury, and Julie Rikelman on a Monday after confirming attendance.
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One is better than none. I’m more concerned with the four appellate seats sitting on the senate floor. I’d love to see some more action on those in the near future to clear the deck going into 2024.
The unfortunate truth though, is until they get the appropriations thing figured out it’ll probably continue to be a max of 1-2 per week.
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It is also a possibility that Kazen could get confirmed next Thursday. That would fit the pattern that happened with Brailsford and Brookman earlier this year anyway.
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I’m begging you Chuck, confirm more than 2 judges next week!!!
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Be patient. The Senate has a lot on its plate right now, and first and foremost will be keeping the government from being shut down.
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I did some looking for the vacancies in the Western District of Texas. One name that I’ve caught is Magistrate Judge Miguel Torres, who’s based in the overworked El Paso section. He checks all the boxes that the Biden Administration looks for, both in demographics and a private law career in criminal defense. And he looks to be qualified, having been a judge since 2012. But I’ve found nothing in his background that would trigger Republicans.
In my mind, there’s no doubt he’s being considered.
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I have another batch of judges I want to know the ideologies of:
Lewis Liman (SDNY), Dabney Friedrich (DDC), David Barron (1st CCA), William Kayetta (1st CCA), Raymond Lohier (2nd CCA), Debra Ann Livingston (2nd CCA), Rory Gregory (4th CCA), Pamela Harris (4th CCA), Prescilla Richman (5th CCA), Leslie Southwick (5th CCA), Richard Griffin (6th CCA), James Loken (8th CCA), Gregory Phillips (10th CCA), Harris Hartz (10th CCA), Dale Drozd (EDCA)
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Barron – liberal but has taken some conservative positions (Torture Memos before he became a judge and voted against giving Puerto Ricans voting rights).
Kayatta also voted against giving Puerto Ricans voting rights.
Lohier – standard liberal
Livingston – standard conservative, voted against gay rights
Gregory – even though GW Bush renominated him, he routinely votes with the liberals him
Harris – pretty liberal, left of the standard liberal
Richman – conservative but to the left of most of the GOP appointees for the 5th
Southwick – moderate, voted for abortion rights
Griffin – conservative but more moderate than most of the GOP appointees on the 6th. I recall him being the decisive vote in favor of gun control
Loken – conservative but more moderate than most on the 8th. He ruled against Jimmy John’s workers and votes with the other conservatives in most en banc cases (with Jane Kelly dissenting). He has sided with the liberals a couple times.
Hartz – pretty conservative. Some people on this blog think he’s one of the likeliest GOP nominees to take senior status under Biden. Other than his age, I don’t see a reason why he would take senior status under Biden (same goes for Loken)
Idk about Liman, Friedrich, Phillips, and Drozd, but they were all consensus nominees for one reason or another so probably closer to the center.
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@CJ
Lewis Limon seems to be liberal. He clerked for John Paul Stevens and worked for the NAACP for a while. He was reluctantly nominated by Trump as part of a package of nominations.
Griffin seems to be moderate-to-conservative, very establishment type. His father was a U.S. Senator during the 1970’s. The man who unseated his father (Carl Levin), reluctantly supported confirming him as part of a compromise.
Gregory Phillips is a Democrat in a heavily Republican state. He seems to tilt liberal, but not heavily so. He is a renown expert on white collar crime, particularly Medicare fraud.
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Considering what @Ryan said about Loken, who do you guys think is the most moderate conservative on the 8th Circuit?
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I’m thinking that Loken is the most moderate Republican appointee on the 8th. Circuit. Ralph Erickson was a consensus nominee and was unanimously confirmed, so he probably falls in that category. Steve Colloton also appears to be a compromise nominee.
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I would say between Loken, Lavenski Smith, and maybe Erickson. I think that Roger Wollman held that distinction until he let Trump pick his successor.
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If we count senior judges (all 3 senior judges are Republican), then I would say that Wollman and Michael Melloy are more moderate than any of the GOP appointees still regular judges. Wollman sided with Jane Kelly in an abortion case and Melloy let Obama pick his successor.
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Apparently chief judges in Texas have the power to stop this single judge division nonsense. If only the Northern District of Texas would do the same (chief judge David Godbey is a GW Bush judge and I have no idea how far to the right he is)
“Garcia was chief judge of the Western District of Texas from 2016 to 2022. Starting in 2020, the allegedly litigant-friendly behavior of Judge Alan Albright of the Waco division of the court led to a significant increase in patent filings in that division. Garcia ultimately responded to Albright’s behavior by issuing a docket-stripping order that ensured patent cases filed in Waco would be randomly assigned rather than assigned to Albright by default.[5][6]”
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